I downloaded Automatix and used it to install a few things, but I didn't use their GUI. I just went through the script and manually executed the commands that installed the components I wanted. I heard a lot of things about how Automatix can screw up your system, but this way I knew exactly what it was doing, and it really didn't take that much more effort than the GUI.
I think the best part of Automatix is it's basically an aggregation of procedures to install the most popular non-standard components. Instead of making a google search and spending 15 minutes copying commands from a howto, I can just copy a whole block from the Automatix script. I highly recommend it even if you're experienced with linux. Just give the script a once-over to make sure you're ok with what it's executing.
Sure, it's called Plank's constant because Plank was the first to assume energy was quantized, but it was just seen as a mathematical trick (to make the correct prediction for black body radiation) until Einstein used it to explain the photoelectric effect.
Oh and price discrimination is obviously also part of it, though I suspect that more accurately describes rebates offered by retailers than by manufacturers.
IANAE (I am not an economist), but I vaguely remember my economics professor saying something last semester about why rebates exist.
Something like if a manufacturer wants to stimulate sales, they can't just lower the price they charge retailers. Due to the monopolistically competitive/oligopoly market the retailer participates in, the retailer often can't change the price they sell the product at much, even when they get a much lower price from the manufacturer. Therefore the manufacturer offers a rebate which bypasses the retailer entirely.
I believe it is due to a kinked demand curve (which arises in certain oligopoly models) that essentially gives the retailer the same profit-maximizing price for a range of marginal costs.
This abstract seems to confirm this. I didn't read the paper itself.
You're such a slacker you're too lazy to spell slacker with a c!
Unless you're really someone who goes around quenching people's thirsts, in which case ignore me.
... for all the bush-haters out there. You read an article (or let's be realistic: just the headline) about an innovative machine for milking cows and immediately recognized this as an opportunity to bash Fox News.
A poll of 1,500 staff by recruitment firm Computer People showed that three out of four wasted more than an hour every week simply finding out what some technical term meant.
The freerider problem only applies to public goods that are excludable and rival. The Internet is neither excludable nor rival, and therefore is not a public good. And since it is not a public good, the freerider problem does not apply to it.
You've got it backwards. Public goods are non-excludable and non-rival, hence their ability to be consumed by everyone. Therefore you agree that the internet is a public good and the freerider problem exists.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_good
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I downloaded Automatix and used it to install a few things, but I didn't use their GUI. I just went through the script and manually executed the commands that installed the components I wanted. I heard a lot of things about how Automatix can screw up your system, but this way I knew exactly what it was doing, and it really didn't take that much more effort than the GUI.
I think the best part of Automatix is it's basically an aggregation of procedures to install the most popular non-standard components. Instead of making a google search and spending 15 minutes copying commands from a howto, I can just copy a whole block from the Automatix script. I highly recommend it even if you're experienced with linux. Just give the script a once-over to make sure you're ok with what it's executing.
Sure, it's called Plank's constant because Plank was the first to assume energy was quantized, but it was just seen as a mathematical trick (to make the correct prediction for black body radiation) until Einstein used it to explain the photoelectric effect.
Oh and price discrimination is obviously also part of it, though I suspect that more accurately describes rebates offered by retailers than by manufacturers.
IANAE (I am not an economist), but I vaguely remember my economics professor saying something last semester about why rebates exist.
Something like if a manufacturer wants to stimulate sales, they can't just lower the price they charge retailers. Due to the monopolistically competitive/oligopoly market the retailer participates in, the retailer often can't change the price they sell the product at much, even when they get a much lower price from the manufacturer. Therefore the manufacturer offers a rebate which bypasses the retailer entirely.
I believe it is due to a kinked demand curve (which arises in certain oligopoly models) that essentially gives the retailer the same profit-maximizing price for a range of marginal costs.
This abstract seems to confirm this. I didn't read the paper itself.
You're such a slacker you're too lazy to spell slacker with a c! Unless you're really someone who goes around quenching people's thirsts, in which case ignore me.
... for all the bush-haters out there. You read an article (or let's be realistic: just the headline) about an innovative machine for milking cows and immediately recognized this as an opportunity to bash Fox News.
...and they're directed at the politicians who focus on the hot topic of the month instead of the important issues.
Won't somebody PLEASE think of the children -- Never gets old, especially when said in that whiny Mrs. Lovejoy voice
I'm getting good speeds from their FTP.