Retail chains are going thru hard times for two reasons and neither one of them has anything to do with the web. First, the economy. Obviously people will buy less if they either dont have a job or fear losing their job. Two, giants like Wal-Mart. KMart is having problems because of Wal-Mart plain and simple.
Until places like Amazon can offer browsing of books, etc brick-and-mortar bookstores don't have much to worry about. Unless the book can be had for much cheaper online (and I've only found that to be really true in the case of tech books) I'd rather buy it locally. I can go to the store, browse, and buy right there. No waiting for shipping. The fact that it might cost a little less online doesn't make up for the convenience of being able to browse and buy.
Other types of stores still don't have much to worry about. What kinds of things would you buy at a Wal-Mart that you'd buy online? Not much. Same thing for most retailers. The "death of retail" is a bunch of hooey.
A "normal" startup business, if it survives at all, normally takes *years* to make its first profit (5 or 6 seems to be the average). There is no reason in the world Amazon should have come out of the gates making money. In fact all they did was sell books for a few years before branching out to other products.
uh....allergies to all sorts of things are a complete reality. not sure what world you're living in but count yourself lucky if you dont have any allergies. I am one of those people that you think is psychosomatic....I have alleries to perfume. I didnt have allergies as a kid....they started when i was an adult and I dont have any particular like/dislike for perfume in general. some will cause me to have allergic reactions including breathing problems.
as to nut allergies it is possible for someone to die from eating something that even has a tiny bit of nuts in it. it is not quackery. not any less dangerous than bee stings to people who are allergic to them.
if you ever had the shit scared out of you because of a severe allergic reaction you wouldnt be spouting your nonsense.
I can't believe people. Amazon posts a profit for the first time (and on a reasonable time schedule in the real world) and then someone complains that it's not a big enough profit. What did the submitter expect? a 1-billion dollar windfall? considering the state of the US economy at the moment the fact that amazon made a profit is even better.
go to http://www.midiman.com and look at the m-audio section. they have different levels of boards available. I have a Delta 44 which is 4 balanced ins/4 balanced outs. it kicks ass. I paid about $250 and that was about 1-1/2 years ago. Echo also makes great cards (gina,layla, etc).
It's rather frightening that things protected by the first amendment can be made illegal. "Congress shall make no law... abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press."
Yet again someone seems to be making the assumption that there is such a thing as absolute freedom of speech in the US. There isn't and there never has been absolute freedom of speech in this country.
Also....your quoted text is irrelevant because Congress isn't making any law in these cases to bar free speech.
Please look up 'slander' or 'libel' in a dictionary and then tell me if you think there arent already laws on the books that prevent certain types of speech. The point you seem to be forgetting is that people are pretty much free to say whatever they wish....that doesn't mean they won't have to face consequences for doing so (as in the oft-used 'yelling fire in a theater' example).
Re:Guilt By Association, don't buy it
on
Monsanto and PCBs
·
· Score: 1
That's not automatically true - 'organic food' seems to cost significantly more than 'regular' food. If one is wealthy this price difference doesn't matter, but for poorer folks who are more in need of good nutrition, this is an issue.
Agreed. Organic food generally is more expensive but that is changing as the market becomes larger (and it *is* growing at a pretty significant rate every year...so much so that many of the large food manufacturers have taken notice and are getting into the game themselves). As the market becomes larger the price should decrease. To be honest I'd rather see that then using genetically-modified foods. My main concern with GMOs is that I don't feel (and am obviously not alone) enough research is being done and stuff is being ram-rodded thru without any oversight.
Re:Guilt By Association, don't buy it
on
Monsanto and PCBs
·
· Score: 1
Regarding your " real factual arguments": They mostly sound good. I wonder; what about GM used to boost vitamin content; or boost resistance to a disease in a non-toxic way? Are those bad too?
There is no reason to use genetics to boost vitamin content in foods if it is grown properly (read: organic farming). One of the reasons why conventional produce in the US sucks is the fact that the soil is depleted from farming the same crop in the same soil over and over and over. To try to combat this they dump tons of synthetic fertilizer on it. Compare this to the organic method which rotates crops and doesnt use synthetic pesticides and/or fertilizers. I'd rather have my food grown that way. Its better for the planet and its better for us. The other method clearly isn't.
As to a non-toxic way of boosting resistance yes it is bad. They already do this with Bt. If that method continues to be used organic farmers will have one of the best natural pesticides no longer available. These companies act like nature is a static beast. Why care about the future if you can make money now huh?
I think what we need is plenty of public scrutiny, and firm regulations - rather than an out-right ban on GMOs. I would agree with this. Would definitely require lots of regulations tho in order to get the public scrutiny.
I can't believe someone modded your comment as 'insightful'. The only insight I have is that you didn't read the article. Recording companies take a huge monetary risk every time they sign someone. Considering most signings dont add up to anything that is a lot of money lost. The article was a very good insight into how things work and why this 'the artists are getting screwed' thing is total crap. Its easy: equate recording companies with VC firms. If you dont like the way they operate dont go to them and try to go it on your own. Also, while youre at it, equate 'starving artists' with failed businesses. There is a huge risk involved in signing a new artist or a new business. These people have to recoup their money somehow and in the case of both they do it with their most popular signings.
of using biofeedback to choose an mp3 based on your mood: select the appropriate song from a list with your mouse. Sometimes geeks are just *too* geeky.
Spoken like a true greenie. Yes, let's kill and hurt people to protect plants and animals! (All three of which are renewable resources, but I'll let you decide which one is more valuable.)
Without plants and animals what do we live on?
The problem with your vision is that it doesnt take into account that the Earth is a system with each part depending on the other. The bigger problem is that most people dont realize that fact so we are constantly shifting the balance in negative ways.
Yes but the poster was talking about using the electricity to pump up seawater and break it apart into hydrogen and oxygen. They werent talking about transmitting the electricity generated anywhere.
People keep confusing things like app start time and boot time (which Microsoft specifically worked on) with stuff like number crunching, multi-tasking,etc. The stuff youre talking about will make the OS *seem* faster sure. doesnt mean overall perf is gonna be better.
Uh....did you notice that the zdlabs test (which was commissioned by MS) didnt do anywhere near as comprehensive of a test as IW did? Did you notice that zdlabs tested features which were specially worked on by MS and touted as improvements (app startup times and boot times)? Did you notice that the IW test included multi-tasking and SMP testing and zdlabs didnt?
depends. 1.0 was finished 8 years ago. Was ReiserFS out then? How about 3dwm? virtual machines have been around forever. i think you are looking at it just a tad too simplistic.
As already pointed out they are very similar. However I have to say you should check out Orion if you need full j2ee capability in a damn fast server (Oracle licensed it for their own j2ee offerings) or Resin. Resin is cheaper but doesnt include the EJB stuff. Orion/Resin are both free for development use and licenses are $1500/server for Orion and $500 for Resin (I think). give em a look. Tomcat is the reference platform but unless they really did some tweaking Orion and Resin both blow it out of the water.
Re:Pray Or Meditate Or Whatever For President Bush
on
Handling the Loads
·
· Score: 1
I cant believe people are posting this fear-mongering crap. Out of all of the possibilities you instantly think he's going to use a nuke? Ever think that maybe...just maybe...hes upset about the fact that other Americans will probably get killed as well as innocent people in the country we choose to attack (if necessary)?
Slashdot Mirror
Until places like Amazon can offer browsing of books, etc brick-and-mortar bookstores don't have much to worry about. Unless the book can be had for much cheaper online (and I've only found that to be really true in the case of tech books) I'd rather buy it locally. I can go to the store, browse, and buy right there. No waiting for shipping. The fact that it might cost a little less online doesn't make up for the convenience of being able to browse and buy.
Other types of stores still don't have much to worry about. What kinds of things would you buy at a Wal-Mart that you'd buy online? Not much. Same thing for most retailers. The "death of retail" is a bunch of hooey.
A "normal" startup business, if it survives at all, normally takes *years* to make its first profit (5 or 6 seems to be the average). There is no reason in the world Amazon should have come out of the gates making money. In fact all they did was sell books for a few years before branching out to other products.
as to nut allergies it is possible for someone to die from eating something that even has a tiny bit of nuts in it. it is not quackery. not any less dangerous than bee stings to people who are allergic to them.
if you ever had the shit scared out of you because of a severe allergic reaction you wouldnt be spouting your nonsense.
I can't believe people. Amazon posts a profit for the first time (and on a reasonable time schedule in the real world) and then someone complains that it's not a big enough profit. What did the submitter expect? a 1-billion dollar windfall? considering the state of the US economy at the moment the fact that amazon made a profit is even better.
oh...and m-audio makes linux drivers for the Delta boards.
go to http://www.midiman.com and look at the m-audio section. they have different levels of boards available. I have a Delta 44 which is 4 balanced ins/4 balanced outs. it kicks ass. I paid about $250 and that was about 1-1/2 years ago. Echo also makes great cards (gina,layla, etc).
Yet again someone seems to be making the assumption that there is such a thing as absolute freedom of speech in the US. There isn't and there never has been absolute freedom of speech in this country.
Also....your quoted text is irrelevant because Congress isn't making any law in these cases to bar free speech.
Please look up 'slander' or 'libel' in a dictionary and then tell me if you think there arent already laws on the books that prevent certain types of speech. The point you seem to be forgetting is that people are pretty much free to say whatever they wish....that doesn't mean they won't have to face consequences for doing so (as in the oft-used 'yelling fire in a theater' example).
Agreed. Organic food generally is more expensive but that is changing as the market becomes larger (and it *is* growing at a pretty significant rate every year...so much so that many of the large food manufacturers have taken notice and are getting into the game themselves). As the market becomes larger the price should decrease. To be honest I'd rather see that then using genetically-modified foods. My main concern with GMOs is that I don't feel (and am obviously not alone) enough research is being done and stuff is being ram-rodded thru without any oversight.
There is no reason to use genetics to boost vitamin content in foods if it is grown properly (read: organic farming). One of the reasons why conventional produce in the US sucks is the fact that the soil is depleted from farming the same crop in the same soil over and over and over. To try to combat this they dump tons of synthetic fertilizer on it. Compare this to the organic method which rotates crops and doesnt use synthetic pesticides and/or fertilizers. I'd rather have my food grown that way. Its better for the planet and its better for us. The other method clearly isn't.
As to a non-toxic way of boosting resistance yes it is bad. They already do this with Bt. If that method continues to be used organic farmers will have one of the best natural pesticides no longer available. These companies act like nature is a static beast. Why care about the future if you can make money now huh?
I think what we need is plenty of public scrutiny, and firm regulations - rather than an out-right ban on GMOs.
I would agree with this. Would definitely require lots of regulations tho in order to get the public scrutiny.
Agreed. his Thinking in C++ book really helped me to grok C++ when I was trying to learn it in school. much better than the textbooks we were using.
its 'thinking in python'. the 'thinking in patterns' book is a different link.
Why should we celebrate a fake birthday? Do you celebrate your birthday on the actual day or another day during the year?
I can't believe someone modded your comment as 'insightful'. The only insight I have is that you didn't read the article. Recording companies take a huge monetary risk every time they sign someone. Considering most signings dont add up to anything that is a lot of money lost. The article was a very good insight into how things work and why this 'the artists are getting screwed' thing is total crap. Its easy: equate recording companies with VC firms. If you dont like the way they operate dont go to them and try to go it on your own. Also, while youre at it, equate 'starving artists' with failed businesses. There is a huge risk involved in signing a new artist or a new business. These people have to recoup their money somehow and in the case of both they do it with their most popular signings.
of using biofeedback to choose an mp3 based on your mood: select the appropriate song from a list with your mouse. Sometimes geeks are just *too* geeky.
Without plants and animals what do we live on?
The problem with your vision is that it doesnt take into account that the Earth is a system with each part depending on the other. The bigger problem is that most people dont realize that fact so we are constantly shifting the balance in negative ways.
Yes but the poster was talking about using the electricity to pump up seawater and break it apart into hydrogen and oxygen. They werent talking about transmitting the electricity generated anywhere.
It wouldnt be if you were responsible for upgrading a large number of users for a business.
People keep confusing things like app start time and boot time (which Microsoft specifically worked on) with stuff like number crunching, multi-tasking ,etc. The stuff youre talking about will make the OS *seem* faster sure. doesnt mean overall perf is gonna be better.
Uh....did you notice that the zdlabs test (which was commissioned by MS) didnt do anywhere near as comprehensive of a test as IW did? Did you notice that zdlabs tested features which were specially worked on by MS and touted as improvements (app startup times and boot times)? Did you notice that the IW test included multi-tasking and SMP testing and zdlabs didnt?
Same benchmarking suite as IW.
depends. 1.0 was finished 8 years ago. Was ReiserFS out then? How about 3dwm? virtual machines have been around forever. i think you are looking at it just a tad too simplistic.
Can you point to any country and give hard proof that it has 'full freedom of speech'? The US has never had it (regardless of someones imagination).
http://www.zdnet.com/products/stories/reviews/0,41 61,2714317,00.html
As already pointed out they are very similar. However I have to say you should check out Orion if you need full j2ee capability in a damn fast server (Oracle licensed it for their own j2ee offerings) or Resin. Resin is cheaper but doesnt include the EJB stuff. Orion/Resin are both free for development use and licenses are $1500/server for Orion and $500 for Resin (I think). give em a look. Tomcat is the reference platform but unless they really did some tweaking Orion and Resin both blow it out of the water.
I cant believe people are posting this fear-mongering crap. Out of all of the possibilities you instantly think he's going to use a nuke? Ever think that maybe...just maybe...hes upset about the fact that other Americans will probably get killed as well as innocent people in the country we choose to attack (if necessary)?