Mapquest worked pretty well for me as a transition between paper maps and Google Maps. I would get the occasional "Take I-295 East" when I passed through Atlanta, but 295 is a circle, so my only options would be North or South, and I would have to scramble through my brain quickly in heavy traffic as to which of those I wanted. But it worked better than unraveling a giant paper map in my car and trying to find where I was versus where I wanted to go.
The flights were North - South. It could be as you describe (I mean, what do I REALLY know about air speed velocity except regarding swallows), but it just seemed coincidental that it made up about the same amount of time both directions. As a consultant for 11 years, I've flown a good bit, but I had never experienced that before. Early or late, plenty, and cancelled occasionally, but both flights with the same time pick up, not until now.
Exactly! I tell people this every year. All the info is already reported to the IRS, so they do your taxes and send you a statement. The only change is that you can then use that statement to add any deductions. Return that with your payment or the method by which you would like your refund. Done. Well, the IRS would obviously still validate your deductions, but what a time, effort, and cost savings for everyone, including the IRS.
I was on MoviePass until it became awful. I switched to AMC A-List. It costs $19.95/mo but I can see any 3 movies every week. I seldom see that any, but if I see 2 or 3 it pays for itself. It also gives me discounts on popcorn and soda, and for every 5000 points I earn I get a $5 reward. I typically get one reward a month. Plus on Tuesdays I can bring a fiend for $5. All-in-all not a bad deal for me. Not for everyone, of course. My wife is not a member and just goes with me on Tuesdays.
I flew Allegiant for the first time last weekend and we somehow arrived on time, despite leaving 30 minutes late. And then we arrived 25 minutes early on the return flight. Sometimes those inflated flight durations can be seen very clearly.
To be clear, *I* didn't try to make anyone do anything. I was just there on contract with another company. But it was a little but fun watching them enforce their will and celebrating the win, only to find themselves scratching their heads when it didn't materialize.
Granted, this does not exactly match the context, but I consulted onsite at an American company that purchased a European company. The US company set a deadline that French declined because they take the month off every year. They were told, "Not this year." Eventually the French gave in. But when the time came, they were nowhere to be found. Culture is a tough thing to overcome.
Facebook Messenger uses those awful bubbles and the first thing I do is turn them off every time I change phones or reinstall the app. They just get in the way and cover up the things I do want to see. Multiple bubbles are terrible. Please don't take your cues from Facebook.
Sadly, I've worked places where we got training every year and people still fell for test emails and flash drives left around the parking lot. The "It'll never happen to me" belief is strong in people, even after it happens to them.
Or, more likely, when the fines are handed out, we'll see public outrage and lawsuits. My wife was an environmental scientist, and I still have to fight with her to recycle properly.
I got those car warranty calls all the time so I would open by telling them that I had 220,000 miles on my car and THEY started hanging up on ME. On the rare occasion someone stayed on, I would ask them to remove me from their list. I guess it was a good strategy because they never call me anymore.
I bought my first LTC Thunderbolt from Verizon, but I've never bought another phone from them. I buy them refurbished on eBay or Amazon for myself, my wife, and my kids,. Verizon has never been hesitant about it. I asked the first time I bought a phone elsewhere and they said, "Absolutely." So after that I've always just gone online, switched the old phone to the new phone, and I'm done.
Terrible example. I've spent lots of time in Hawaii. There is only one large city in the state and the geography elsewhere generally forces people to live close together where buses can actually make some sense. Plus owning and driving a car is crazy expensive there (just like most other things).
I didn't intend Hawaii to be the standard. Being an island, there is only so much land, so it can't outgrow its user base. It was just my starting point. I did move 2 cars there from the mainland and quickly sold one because of the expense and lack of need. If you want to talk non-existent, I went to college in rural Alabama and the only buses there were Greyhounds.
I'm guessing you lived in one of the bigger cities if that was the case. I've lived in PA and in most of it bus service is either inconvenient or non-existent. I went to college in Eastern PA and aside from the busses around campus there was very limited bus service around the rest of the metro area (Allentown, Bethlehem, Easton) You basically had to own a car to get anywhere useful in a reasonable amount of time.
As far as PA, I lived across the river from Harrisburg. I still had to walk (I enjoy walking) a mile to the bus stop, but it was at a grocery store so I could leave my car in the parking lot when weather wasn't conducive to walking. I was raised on a farm down the turnpike from Pittsburgh and we had no transit there when I left, but I was only 10.
The problem is that where you live wasn't designed with bus service or any other public transit in mind. Bus service is almost always just an afterthought which works ok but not great in most cities which were designed with cars as primary transport. It doesn't require rails or other fixed infrastructure like trains or trolleys and it can be re-routed relatively easily. Honestly I've never lived in a place where bus transportation was a practical option.
I've never lived anywhere with above- or below-ground rail, although I have used them during to trips to Atlanta, NYC, and LA. I prefer them to driving into the cities, but as I said I don't use them long-term. I UBER most places now, which does little to help with traffic congestion.
I rode the bus when I lived in Hawaii and it was cheap and convenient. When I moved to Pennsylvania it was less cheap and less convenient, but still did the job fairly well. Now in South Carolina, I don't know how much it costs because it doesn't service my area. Well, almost. I live just off the interstate that runs right downtown. There is even a bus stop right in front of my building. But to use the bus from my home I have to drive 6 miles away from work to board the bus or half way to work to pick up the same line. Even though it goes right through my part of town it doesn't stop. Plus there is no parking there so I'd have to find a place to park and then walk to the bus stop. Now maybe it's my own fault for not fully realizing that the bus doesn't stop in my part of town, but it's that inconvenience that causes me to just jump on the interstate and park in my building's parking lot, even though I hate the traffic.
I agree with having an extra set of eyes, but typically a car stuck on the tracks is going to be hit simply because of how long it takes to stop a train,
The average freight train is about 1 to 1.25 miles in length (90 to 120 rail cars). When it's moving at 55 MPH, it can take a mile or more to stop after the locomotive engineer fully applies the emergency brake. An 8-car passenger train moving at 80 MPH needs about a mile to stop.
I see very few people use the touchscreens, unless there is a long line. And you can easily avoid the fecal factor by ordering ahead on the app and picking it up. Plus plenty of companies offer delivery from pretty much anywhere you want through their own app: Grub Hub, Uber Eats, 256ToGo, BiteSquad, Door Dash, Eat24, etc.
We have several people working four 10s and taking off Fridays, so I took Mondays and worked four 10s t be sure we always had coverage. Suddenly I didn't hate Mondays anymore. Plus having a specific workday off every week allowed me better plan medical appointments, vehicle maintenance, deliveries, etc. while still providing a three day weekend which could be use to do home projects while still getting a day of actual rest, or short trips to refresh and recharge that allowed a full day at the wherever, and didn't include driving to a place on Saturday and back straightaway the next day.
Red State: I live in South Carolina where people were complaining about how everyone who voted for Gary Johnson (I) instead of Hillary won the day for Trump here, but Trump got over 50% of the popular vote so even if *everyone* who voted for *anyone else*, all of our electoral votes still went to Trump.
I'll be curious to see how many Dems vote in the Republican primaries (in states where such a thing is allowed) in 2020 to try to knock him out of the race early. Assuming, of course, that he has a real contender for the party nomination.
I didn't complain about taxes. I just said they are an expense of business that my employees did not see. And I don't know why you would assume I had "massive profits." There's a reason I got out of that business. I didn't get in with a cash buy. Subway is happy to lease everything to you for the reasonable rate of an arm and a leg. Then they require expensive redesigns every few years. And they autodraw 10.5% (at that time) out of your sales every week for franchise fees and advertising. And in 1997, minimum wage was half of what it is now, but as I said I still paid above that because I started out making minimum wage and know what that's like. I had one employee and her family move in with us for a few weeks when they lost their apartment until they could get a new place. I helped the good ones by giving them responsibilities that would provide material for their resumes and help them write those resumes. Sure I would've liked to keep some of them, but I didn't want them working fast food their whole lives. I love a good success story and if I could help one happen in some small way, I was happy to do it. No, I didn't do all of that for the people who were only there to collect a paycheck. And yes, there were cases where I had people quit because their paycheck reduced their government check. That was insane to me, but the state of Alabama was not interested in my opinion on the matter. As far as Subway-owned stores, there is no such thing, or at least there wasn't when I was involved. Every store at that time was franchisee-owned. Now there were District Offices who has Field Reps who did store inspections. Those office owners always seemed to have plenty of money, but I was not one of them.
Self worth indeed! I owned several Subway restaurants in the late 90s. I didn't provide health insurance, but I did pay above minimum wage, free meals, and offered flexible scheduling. Still I had employees who would steal because they "saw how much money came through the store every day" and felt they were due a bigger share because of the work they felt they put in... that no one else could do for some reason. During their exit interview, I always tried to give a brief comparison of the money they saw coming versus the money going out to multiple sources (franchise, government at multiple levels, inventory, rent, payroll, advertising, and many more) that they did not see, to hopefully save their future employers some amount of headache. Some were indignant about it, but I also had a good number come back later to ask for their jobs back because they didn't realize how good they had it compared to other local business owners, realizing their self-worth was even less valued elsewhere.
Slashdot Mirror
Mapquest worked pretty well for me as a transition between paper maps and Google Maps. I would get the occasional "Take I-295 East" when I passed through Atlanta, but 295 is a circle, so my only options would be North or South, and I would have to scramble through my brain quickly in heavy traffic as to which of those I wanted. But it worked better than unraveling a giant paper map in my car and trying to find where I was versus where I wanted to go.
The flights were North - South. It could be as you describe (I mean, what do I REALLY know about air speed velocity except regarding swallows), but it just seemed coincidental that it made up about the same amount of time both directions. As a consultant for 11 years, I've flown a good bit, but I had never experienced that before. Early or late, plenty, and cancelled occasionally, but both flights with the same time pick up, not until now.
Exactly! I tell people this every year. All the info is already reported to the IRS, so they do your taxes and send you a statement. The only change is that you can then use that statement to add any deductions. Return that with your payment or the method by which you would like your refund. Done. Well, the IRS would obviously still validate your deductions, but what a time, effort, and cost savings for everyone, including the IRS.
Clearly you've never met my wife.
I was on MoviePass until it became awful. I switched to AMC A-List. It costs $19.95/mo but I can see any 3 movies every week. I seldom see that any, but if I see 2 or 3 it pays for itself. It also gives me discounts on popcorn and soda, and for every 5000 points I earn I get a $5 reward. I typically get one reward a month. Plus on Tuesdays I can bring a fiend for $5. All-in-all not a bad deal for me. Not for everyone, of course. My wife is not a member and just goes with me on Tuesdays.
I flew Allegiant for the first time last weekend and we somehow arrived on time, despite leaving 30 minutes late. And then we arrived 25 minutes early on the return flight. Sometimes those inflated flight durations can be seen very clearly.
To be clear, *I* didn't try to make anyone do anything. I was just there on contract with another company. But it was a little but fun watching them enforce their will and celebrating the win, only to find themselves scratching their heads when it didn't materialize.
Granted, this does not exactly match the context, but I consulted onsite at an American company that purchased a European company. The US company set a deadline that French declined because they take the month off every year. They were told, "Not this year." Eventually the French gave in. But when the time came, they were nowhere to be found. Culture is a tough thing to overcome.
Facebook Messenger uses those awful bubbles and the first thing I do is turn them off every time I change phones or reinstall the app. They just get in the way and cover up the things I do want to see. Multiple bubbles are terrible. Please don't take your cues from Facebook.
Were they first from 300km? First in "low-Earth orbit"? First with that combination of distance and orbit? Is it simple political posturing?
Sadly, I've worked places where we got training every year and people still fell for test emails and flash drives left around the parking lot. The "It'll never happen to me" belief is strong in people, even after it happens to them.
Or, more likely, when the fines are handed out, we'll see public outrage and lawsuits. My wife was an environmental scientist, and I still have to fight with her to recycle properly.
I got those car warranty calls all the time so I would open by telling them that I had 220,000 miles on my car and THEY started hanging up on ME. On the rare occasion someone stayed on, I would ask them to remove me from their list. I guess it was a good strategy because they never call me anymore.
I bought my first LTC Thunderbolt from Verizon, but I've never bought another phone from them. I buy them refurbished on eBay or Amazon for myself, my wife, and my kids,. Verizon has never been hesitant about it. I asked the first time I bought a phone elsewhere and they said, "Absolutely." So after that I've always just gone online, switched the old phone to the new phone, and I'm done.
I used NoMonthlyFees.com (as hokey as it sounds) for years until HostingCheck.com bought them several years back, and I still happily use them today.
Terrible example. I've spent lots of time in Hawaii. There is only one large city in the state and the geography elsewhere generally forces people to live close together where buses can actually make some sense. Plus owning and driving a car is crazy expensive there (just like most other things).
I didn't intend Hawaii to be the standard. Being an island, there is only so much land, so it can't outgrow its user base. It was just my starting point. I did move 2 cars there from the mainland and quickly sold one because of the expense and lack of need. If you want to talk non-existent, I went to college in rural Alabama and the only buses there were Greyhounds.
I'm guessing you lived in one of the bigger cities if that was the case. I've lived in PA and in most of it bus service is either inconvenient or non-existent. I went to college in Eastern PA and aside from the busses around campus there was very limited bus service around the rest of the metro area (Allentown, Bethlehem, Easton) You basically had to own a car to get anywhere useful in a reasonable amount of time.
As far as PA, I lived across the river from Harrisburg. I still had to walk (I enjoy walking) a mile to the bus stop, but it was at a grocery store so I could leave my car in the parking lot when weather wasn't conducive to walking. I was raised on a farm down the turnpike from Pittsburgh and we had no transit there when I left, but I was only 10.
The problem is that where you live wasn't designed with bus service or any other public transit in mind. Bus service is almost always just an afterthought which works ok but not great in most cities which were designed with cars as primary transport. It doesn't require rails or other fixed infrastructure like trains or trolleys and it can be re-routed relatively easily. Honestly I've never lived in a place where bus transportation was a practical option.
I've never lived anywhere with above- or below-ground rail, although I have used them during to trips to Atlanta, NYC, and LA. I prefer them to driving into the cities, but as I said I don't use them long-term. I UBER most places now, which does little to help with traffic congestion.
I rode the bus when I lived in Hawaii and it was cheap and convenient. When I moved to Pennsylvania it was less cheap and less convenient, but still did the job fairly well. Now in South Carolina, I don't know how much it costs because it doesn't service my area. Well, almost. I live just off the interstate that runs right downtown. There is even a bus stop right in front of my building. But to use the bus from my home I have to drive 6 miles away from work to board the bus or half way to work to pick up the same line. Even though it goes right through my part of town it doesn't stop. Plus there is no parking there so I'd have to find a place to park and then walk to the bus stop. Now maybe it's my own fault for not fully realizing that the bus doesn't stop in my part of town, but it's that inconvenience that causes me to just jump on the interstate and park in my building's parking lot, even though I hate the traffic.
I agree with having an extra set of eyes, but typically a car stuck on the tracks is going to be hit simply because of how long it takes to stop a train, The average freight train is about 1 to 1.25 miles in length (90 to 120 rail cars). When it's moving at 55 MPH, it can take a mile or more to stop after the locomotive engineer fully applies the emergency brake. An 8-car passenger train moving at 80 MPH needs about a mile to stop.
The place I go even has a sign that says tips cannot be included on your card and must be paid in cash or Venmo,
I see very few people use the touchscreens, unless there is a long line. And you can easily avoid the fecal factor by ordering ahead on the app and picking it up. Plus plenty of companies offer delivery from pretty much anywhere you want through their own app: Grub Hub, Uber Eats, 256ToGo, BiteSquad, Door Dash, Eat24, etc.
We have several people working four 10s and taking off Fridays, so I took Mondays and worked four 10s t be sure we always had coverage. Suddenly I didn't hate Mondays anymore. Plus having a specific workday off every week allowed me better plan medical appointments, vehicle maintenance, deliveries, etc. while still providing a three day weekend which could be use to do home projects while still getting a day of actual rest, or short trips to refresh and recharge that allowed a full day at the wherever, and didn't include driving to a place on Saturday and back straightaway the next day.
The perfect excuse to cut my kids loose and let them pay for their own phones. And maybe my wife too.
Red State: I live in South Carolina where people were complaining about how everyone who voted for Gary Johnson (I) instead of Hillary won the day for Trump here, but Trump got over 50% of the popular vote so even if *everyone* who voted for *anyone else*, all of our electoral votes still went to Trump. I'll be curious to see how many Dems vote in the Republican primaries (in states where such a thing is allowed) in 2020 to try to knock him out of the race early. Assuming, of course, that he has a real contender for the party nomination.
I didn't complain about taxes. I just said they are an expense of business that my employees did not see. And I don't know why you would assume I had "massive profits." There's a reason I got out of that business. I didn't get in with a cash buy. Subway is happy to lease everything to you for the reasonable rate of an arm and a leg. Then they require expensive redesigns every few years. And they autodraw 10.5% (at that time) out of your sales every week for franchise fees and advertising. And in 1997, minimum wage was half of what it is now, but as I said I still paid above that because I started out making minimum wage and know what that's like. I had one employee and her family move in with us for a few weeks when they lost their apartment until they could get a new place. I helped the good ones by giving them responsibilities that would provide material for their resumes and help them write those resumes. Sure I would've liked to keep some of them, but I didn't want them working fast food their whole lives. I love a good success story and if I could help one happen in some small way, I was happy to do it. No, I didn't do all of that for the people who were only there to collect a paycheck. And yes, there were cases where I had people quit because their paycheck reduced their government check. That was insane to me, but the state of Alabama was not interested in my opinion on the matter. As far as Subway-owned stores, there is no such thing, or at least there wasn't when I was involved. Every store at that time was franchisee-owned. Now there were District Offices who has Field Reps who did store inspections. Those office owners always seemed to have plenty of money, but I was not one of them.
Self worth indeed! I owned several Subway restaurants in the late 90s. I didn't provide health insurance, but I did pay above minimum wage, free meals, and offered flexible scheduling. Still I had employees who would steal because they "saw how much money came through the store every day" and felt they were due a bigger share because of the work they felt they put in... that no one else could do for some reason. During their exit interview, I always tried to give a brief comparison of the money they saw coming versus the money going out to multiple sources (franchise, government at multiple levels, inventory, rent, payroll, advertising, and many more) that they did not see, to hopefully save their future employers some amount of headache. Some were indignant about it, but I also had a good number come back later to ask for their jobs back because they didn't realize how good they had it compared to other local business owners, realizing their self-worth was even less valued elsewhere.