It is a sad state of investing that investors like companies that are growing or expanding. In decades past, it was enough that a company was profitable and stable. But back then most companies offered dividends with shares. More companies are going away from dividends and thus there is not a lot of interest by investors to be concerned with stability. They want growth.
Microsoft's dividends are dwarfed by the amount they've spent on buying back shares. This is one way that MS keeps it's stock price steady, and their willingness to do so is one reason why their stock is consistently rated as 'hold' at worst. Last year (or the year before?) MS actually issued $5 billion in bonds in order to fund stock buyback while maintaining cash reserves for acquisitions, dividends, etc.
I have a Commodore PET and several VIC-20's to put up for auction!!
In '99 or '00 I sold a working PET2001 (real keyboard, not chiclet) with tape cassette drive for $5000. I'm sure I could have gotten more for it if I tried.
Being given a direct line-of-sight into our legislative process is rad as hell
Ecept we're not really given a direct line-of-site into the legislative process. We're being given a direct line-of-sight into the dog-and-pony show that masquerades as our legislative process.
The real workings of the legislature happen behind closed doors, on K street and other places where the legislation is actually hammered out.
We do NOT have aristocracy in this country yet. How much money or power or influence or connections the victim of a crime has has no bearing on the sentence the perpetrator will receive; or at least that's the theory, and the ideal we all strive for.
HA HA HA
What country do you live in where this is true, and how can one emigrate there from the US?
This country is run by, and on behalf of, the wealthy and politically connected. Sure, it's not 100% hereditary, so it's not technically an aristocracy. But it sure damn well feels like it.
congrats for failing. the ribbon is great. but mostly those "20 years in business and i can't get my head around new things anymore so i have to diss it massively" guys are why people still think it's stupid.
That's just, like, your opinion, man.
I despise the ribbon. Why? Because I'd rather spend my time doing work or commenting on slashdot instead of learning a new UI when the old one is in my fucking muscle memory.
I despise using a mouse when keyboard shortcuts work well... and the ribbon killed many, many keyboard shortcuts.
Here's the thing about the ribbon: for beginners, it's easier from the get-go. For intermediate users, it's worth the switch. For expert users of the menu-driven old UI? Not worth it... those users will never be faster and more productive with the ribbon then they were under the old UI. Any time spent learning the ribbon UI is time that is 100% wasted.
Aunt Milly is not expected to know there is a dumb part of the TOS that says they can defraud her so that her nephew gets GTA:Emerald City instead of the Annotated Doctor Suess she ORDERED for him.
Unless, of course, it's spelled out right in front of her when she clicks through to place the order, like, for example, a nice black box warning stating that her intended recipient "participates in their Get-What-You-Want program (click here for more details)".
Ideally, it would give her the option of either (1) accepting the replacement gift or (2) overriding the replacement.
The city I live in is 100k people and it must be twenty times that area, and it's too densly populated for my tastes.
So living in a real city isn't your bag. That's cool, it keeps the prices down for people who don't mind the density.
10-50k people per 3 sq km isn't that bad, anyway... it's comparable to Hoboken NJ (around 40k in 3.2 sq km), which is pretty dense compared to a lot of urban neighborhoods in the US, but is still quite livable.
On that note, does anyone know of a good news site that covers stuff like this in an informed and reasonably detailed and lengthy way but for people who aren't theoretical physicists?
Sure, that would be slashdot.
{snort} {chortle} {snarf}
Sorry, couldn't really even write that with a straight face.
Yeah, but SAP is a largely German company. German employees demand they be treated well.
HP is global, but largely American. We Americans bend over and take it in the ass gleefully, compared to German workers. Especially since the fearmongers have us running scared due to the economy.
Larry Ellison, status: SSSHH i'm hunting Wabb.. eh.. CEOsWhat is that, some kind of double-encrypted super secret transmission protocol? Do you have the specs for it? Is it up for approval as a standard?
it appears they used "Platinum" style support contracts to download some fixes to which regular joe-blow customers weren't entitled (like Microsoft has fixes for certain support contract customers) for their own use instead of their clients'.
The big issue is that it wasn't for their own use -- they were using that material to support their other clients, who had not paid Oracle for that level support -- SAP was able to undercut Oracle support contracts, and they used stolen Oracle support materials to do so.
Krugman is openly for more government control and higher taxes because he thinks the government should run the show and people are nothing but slaves for the government to order around. He's well aware about the effects of those higher taxes, but he thinks their goal (raping businesses and making people more reliant on the government) is good.
Ah, I see, you're another person who makes things up about other people in order to defend your stance. Krugman supports higher taxes in order to support higher government spending, which when done properly, has an economically stimulative effect (as you surely know) -- and as you also surely know, raising taxes on the wealthiest people has a depressing effect that is minuscule compared to the stimulatory effect of domestic spending on infrastructure and social programs.
You have a very paranoid view of things if you think Krugman's goals are to make individuals slaves to government. Have you considered seeking professional help for your psychosis?
My question is, "Why this push to do remote surgery?" I can see why in specialized cases, but wouldn't the expense to fly the patient or doctor and staff/equipment to an appropriate place be cheaper at this point? Would the cost differences ever merge to the point that holographic remote surgery is feasible?
That's a good question on per-procedure costs.
But there are tons of other cost savings and benefits... like the cost of having a dozen(s) different specialist surgeons at every hospital. Access to better surgeons, not just whatever-surgeon-your-local-hospital-is-affiliated-with.
But think of the possibilities of offshoring! An insurance company could save millions upon millions each year by paying surgeon salaries in India or China instead of in the US.
Slashdot Mirror
Microsoft's dividends are dwarfed by the amount they've spent on buying back shares. This is one way that MS keeps it's stock price steady, and their willingness to do so is one reason why their stock is consistently rated as 'hold' at worst. Last year (or the year before?) MS actually issued $5 billion in bonds in order to fund stock buyback while maintaining cash reserves for acquisitions, dividends, etc.
In '99 or '00 I sold a working PET2001 (real keyboard, not chiclet) with tape cassette drive for $5000. I'm sure I could have gotten more for it if I tried.
Ecept we're not really given a direct line-of-site into the legislative process. We're being given a direct line-of-sight into the dog-and-pony show that masquerades as our legislative process.
The real workings of the legislature happen behind closed doors, on K street and other places where the legislation is actually hammered out.
What we can watch on C-Span is largely circus.
Yes, let's all welcome the tyranny of the majority.
And while we're at it, the tyranny of the uninformed.
But even that's not right...
The House (of Representatives) is the lower chamber of Congress, the Senate is the upper chamber.
But controlling one-half of Congress is enough to stymie legislation, so the outcome is the same in this case.
Management wouldn't get jailtime from a civil suit.
And why would they care about those miniscule fines? $730 MM in fines is only two weeks' profit for them.
Fine them multiple years' worth of profit, hell, even multiple *quarters* of profit, and then they'll care.
Make the fines the single largest line-item expense on their financial reporting, and they'll care.
HA HA HA
What country do you live in where this is true, and how can one emigrate there from the US?
This country is run by, and on behalf of, the wealthy and politically connected. Sure, it's not 100% hereditary, so it's not technically an aristocracy. But it sure damn well feels like it.
Why? What is the case for learning it now? Why not defer it until later?
Keyboard shortcuts from compatibility mode, that are noticeably slower than they were under the old UI?
I don't think you've ever SEEN a power-user, if you think they're flying along with keyboard shortcuts with the ribbon.
That's just, like, your opinion, man.
I despise the ribbon. Why? Because I'd rather spend my time doing work or commenting on slashdot instead of learning a new UI when the old one is in my fucking muscle memory.
I despise using a mouse when keyboard shortcuts work well... and the ribbon killed many, many keyboard shortcuts.
Here's the thing about the ribbon: for beginners, it's easier from the get-go. For intermediate users, it's worth the switch. For expert users of the menu-driven old UI? Not worth it... those users will never be faster and more productive with the ribbon then they were under the old UI. Any time spent learning the ribbon UI is time that is 100% wasted.
Hence the nick "HangingChad" instead of "StandingChad"?
Unless, of course, it's spelled out right in front of her when she clicks through to place the order, like, for example, a nice black box warning stating that her intended recipient "participates in their Get-What-You-Want program (click here for more details)".
Ideally, it would give her the option of either (1) accepting the replacement gift or (2) overriding the replacement.
Maybe my math is wrong, it was quick back-of-napkin... but they are saying 10-50k on 3.14 km^2... or between 3k-17k / km^2.
That's right on par with Hoboken... what am I missing?
Another word: Fertilizer
Plants need nitrogen.
So living in a real city isn't your bag. That's cool, it keeps the prices down for people who don't mind the density.
10-50k people per 3 sq km isn't that bad, anyway... it's comparable to Hoboken NJ (around 40k in 3.2 sq km), which is pretty dense compared to a lot of urban neighborhoods in the US, but is still quite livable.
Comments regarding moderation are ALWAYS offtopic, since they are metacomments.
Read the FAQ.
That's the the GP to my post was saying.
...
When you order the item to be shipped to the intended recipient, you will acknowledge via the ToS that you allow Amazon to
's/$foo/$better_foo/g\nw' | ed -s your_order
when you confirm the transaction.
Sure, that would be slashdot.
{snort} {chortle} {snarf}
Sorry, couldn't really even write that with a straight face.
Yeah, but SAP is a largely German company. German employees demand they be treated well.
HP is global, but largely American. We Americans bend over and take it in the ass gleefully, compared to German workers. Especially since the fearmongers have us running scared due to the economy.
The big issue is that it wasn't for their own use -- they were using that material to support their other clients, who had not paid Oracle for that level support -- SAP was able to undercut Oracle support contracts, and they used stolen Oracle support materials to do so.
And at whose insistence do you think CRA was passed?
I'll give you a hint -- it wasn't the poor people who it benefited in the short term.
The CRA was a handout to the banking industry, and they lobbied extensively for it.
Ah, I see, you're another person who makes things up about other people in order to defend your stance. Krugman supports higher taxes in order to support higher government spending, which when done properly, has an economically stimulative effect (as you surely know) -- and as you also surely know, raising taxes on the wealthiest people has a depressing effect that is minuscule compared to the stimulatory effect of domestic spending on infrastructure and social programs.
You have a very paranoid view of things if you think Krugman's goals are to make individuals slaves to government. Have you considered seeking professional help for your psychosis?
That's a good question on per-procedure costs.
But there are tons of other cost savings and benefits... like the cost of having a dozen(s) different specialist surgeons at every hospital. Access to better surgeons, not just whatever-surgeon-your-local-hospital-is-affiliated-with.
But think of the possibilities of offshoring! An insurance company could save millions upon millions each year by paying surgeon salaries in India or China instead of in the US.