Have you tried Super Scrabble? It's like regular Scrabble, only it takes longer!
Re:Changing times call for changing business model
on
Re-Inventing Hotwheels
·
· Score: 1
Lego's patent is expiring/has expired. The shift to Bionicle and Technik reflects the concern that basic Legos will be facing cheap competition in the very near future. The shift to licensed subjects for kits also addresses this issue. I'll be able to buy basic "legos" for next to nothing... but if I want that AT-ST Lego model, I'll be paying through the nose for it.
They already have those. They're called "Megablocks", and they've been competing with (and compatible with) LEGO for at least 20 years now.
I used to post a lot on an automotive forum, and some
guy came on asking how he could improve the mpg in his
new Navigator. At the time, fueleconomy.gov
had it listed as the 2nd-worst vehicle for fuel
economy. Of course, this might've been a good thing to
consider before buying the vehicle....
As it happens, the Navigator also doesn't do well in
terms of depreciation. At the time, you could expect
your brand new Navigator ($55,000, approx) to lose
about $23,000 of value in the first two years.
I calculated the gas price at the time, and the
average gas mileage, and figured out that in order for
the fuel costs to even approach the depreciation,
you'd have to drive 90,000 miles. Per year.
Compared to the depreciation on his vehicle, the
amount of money lost to fuel mileage is paltry.
If your new-SUV buyer thinks nothing of
tens-of-thousands-of-dollars of depreciation, why
should they care about an extra $20/week on gas?
The people hurt by the gas prices are used car buyers.
Unfortunately, we're generally stuck with the crap
that was popular 5-10 years ago - gas guzzlers.
Re:Al Queda, witches, devil worshippers, and gangs
on
Gangs on the Internet
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· Score: 1
So I'm not the only one who thinks it's incredibly dangerous to tell people to listen to the voices in their heads.
Especially when those voices have a history of telling people to: kill their own child, kill large numbers of other people, etc, in the name of "God".
Anytime I meet anyone who claims to have regular conversations with God, I am scared of them. Because if they flip their lid one day, and the voices are no longer telling them to be good and just, they will still believe them and do their bidding.
IMO, we should be teaching people that if you have gods speaking to you, you should seek immediate help.
Right, I understand. I'm saying that it's fairly typical for people to still be pretty deranged until puberty's hormones have normalized. That doesn't necessarily have anything to do with schooling. I think a majority of people are technically insane for several years in their teens. I know I was.
I posted elsewhere in this thread, that I was somewhat homeschooled (4 years) and have twin brothers who were homeschooled different amounts (4 years and 2 years) and 3 other siblings who weren't homeschooled at all.
We're ALL socially inept. My sister and I being a bit more competent than any of the boys.
Do you think that homeschooling causes social ineptitude, or is it more attractive to people who tend to be socially inept anyway?
But are they good at socialization BECAUSE of school?
I have twin brothers...I and one of the twins were homeschooled for 4 years. The other twin was homeschooled only 1 year. My sister and two youngest brothers, not homeschooled at all.
We're all equally socially inept.
I agree that learning basic social interaction is necessary, but one can learn that at home. You're talking as though school teaches people to be popular extroverts. It doesn't. Most popular extroverts were born that way and would be that way no matter what.
I wish I had a link, but months ago we had outraged parents writing letters to the editor because the middle school history teacher said that Columbus raped and pillaged. This was not the history that they wanted their kids taught. Columbus was a HERO, who discovered America! He was not a bad man!
I think the problem was with the wording they used -
FTA: Few people realize that when they buy software or music or movies, they are actually buying a license to use, watch or listen. That's why it violates copyright laws for people to sell copies of their music collection."
This is unclear, unfortunately. It's not easy to discern which of the following they meant:
It violates copyright laws for people to sell copies they made of their music collection
or
It violates copyright laws for people to resell legally purchased copies (licenses) of their music collection.
I'm sure it happens in more places than just Dallas.
I used to be buddy-buddy with the librarian at our high school. I saw some of the crap she bought, and that was even for the school. But like a lot of corporate America, you are actually punished for being frugal - if you don't spend your whole budget this year, you get a smaller one next year, when you may actually need it. So, better to buy a bunch of crap so your budget doesn't get cut.
I don't think this is true. If I fill my cart with fresh produce, it only
costs about $20. If I fill my cart with stuff from just about any other
section of the grocery store, it costs $80 or more.
Fresh produce is cheap. Processed food is expensive.
How many calories are in those veggies?
In poorer days I bought my food on a calorie/$ basis. I lived off the little Totinos Pizzas ($.75/about 350kCal) and Hot Pockets ($1/350kCal). Top Ramen is the best deal. $.10 for nearly 400 calories? Hell yeah.
Raw carrots are about $1/180kCal. Lettuce, you're getting down around $1/50kCal. I don't know the $/lb on spinach, but 15 cups/1lb is only 105 calories!! 1/4lb of Broccoli is only 40 calories. You have to eat a lb of Asparagus ($4 here) to get 100 calories.
And of course, that's not even counting the time spent preparing the veggies, nor the fact that you have to go back to the store every 3 damn days. You can't stock up on 30 lbs of veggies when they're on sale, lest they all rot in the fridge and become worthless.
Don't get me wrong, I eat my veggies now, but there are things I miss about dropping $150 on HotPockets and not having to hit the store again for a month.
And of course, remember - vitamins are necessary for health, but lack of calories will kill you faster than lack of vitamins.
Sports spectatorship IS war, essentially - two groups competing while trying to defend their own territory. Yelling "GO 49ers!!!" is not that different than saying "USA!! SUPPORT OUR TROOPS!".
It's power. Sex and power, that's what drives much of humanity.
Did that on a Mac, with a twist.
I went to empty the trash and then took a screenshot of the "Are you sure?" dialogue box.
Pasted it into Photoshop, and used the appropriate font (Georgia?) to change it..
"The System Folder is in the trash. Are you sure you want to empty it?"
It fooled IT for a few minutes.
I doubt that every (or even most) of the "power out" stories are fake. Power is such a given that when it's out you do all manner of stupid things. I *know* there's no electric, yet I can't stop my hand from flicking the lightswitch as I enter a room.
Last time the power went out while I was at Target. They have a generator sufficient to power about 1/20 of the lights, and the registers, so you can still buy stuff. I made my purchases and left, only to be shocked at the pitch-black parking lot. I fumbled my way to the car, opened the trunk, and was momentarily startled to see my trunk light working.
I'm not a moron, just a creature of habit like most people.
Tech support story - really generic, unfortunately, but on at least 5 occasions a user has complained of "hackers" in their computer (an iMac) which actually translates to "I've left a giant stack of crap on my keyboard again."
You'll notice he didn't say "cut in front of", just "slow down, encourage tailgating". In cases of tailgating, the driver in the rear is always held responsible. Besides, I was trying not to hit the squirrel that ran across the road...honest.
Did the people in the experiment dial the phones too, or just talk on them? In my experience, dialing the phone is the most dangerous part as it requires your eyes and at least one hand.
It's not that old people get in fewer accidents, they get in cheaper, less fatal accidents.
Old people tend to get into slow crashes. Parking lot crashes are a biggie, and they get into many more accidents while making left turns than do younger drivers.
How do crashes involving older drivers differ from those of other drivers? Compared with younger drivers, senior drivers are overinvolved in certain types of collisions -- angle crashes, overtaking or merging crashes, and especially intersection crashes. The most common error made by seniors is failure to yield the right-of-way. Seniors are cited for this error more often than younger drivers.15
Teenagers, on the other hand, tend to get in single-vehicle, higher-speed collisions. They're more susceptible to distractions, such as passengers and cell phones.
How do crashes involving teenagers differ from those of other drivers? Teenagers have higher crash rates than older drivers, and their crashes differ. Analyses of fatal crash data indicate that teenage drivers are more likely to be at fault in their crashes. Teenagers' crashes and violations are more likely to involve speeding than those of older drivers, and teenagers are more likely than drivers of other ages to be in single-vehicle fatal crashes. Plus teenagers do more of their driving in small and older cars3 and at night, compared with adults. In 2004, 18 percent of teenagers' fatalities occurred between 9 pm and midnight, and 22 percent occurred between midnight and 6 am. Fifty-four percent of teenagers' fatalities occurred on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday.
For 16 year-olds, all these problems are heightened. The combination of inexperience behind the wheel and immaturity produces a pattern of fatal crashes among 16 year-olds that includes the highest percentage of crashes involving speeding, the highest percentage of single-vehicle crashes, and the highest percentage of crashes with driver error.
Slashdot Mirror
Have you tried Super Scrabble?
It's like regular Scrabble, only it takes longer!
They already have those. They're called "Megablocks", and they've been competing with (and compatible with) LEGO for at least 20 years now.
The People are Stupid clause..
I used to post a lot on an automotive forum, and some guy came on asking how he could improve the mpg in his new Navigator. At the time, fueleconomy.gov had it listed as the 2nd-worst vehicle for fuel economy. Of course, this might've been a good thing to consider before buying the vehicle....
As it happens, the Navigator also doesn't do well in terms of depreciation. At the time, you could expect your brand new Navigator ($55,000, approx) to lose about $23,000 of value in the first two years.
I calculated the gas price at the time, and the average gas mileage, and figured out that in order for the fuel costs to even approach the depreciation, you'd have to drive 90,000 miles. Per year.
Compared to the depreciation on his vehicle, the amount of money lost to fuel mileage is paltry.
If your new-SUV buyer thinks nothing of tens-of-thousands-of-dollars of depreciation, why should they care about an extra $20/week on gas?
The people hurt by the gas prices are used car buyers. Unfortunately, we're generally stuck with the crap that was popular 5-10 years ago - gas guzzlers.
Especially when those voices have a history of telling people to: kill their own child, kill large numbers of other people, etc, in the name of "God".
Anytime I meet anyone who claims to have regular conversations with God, I am scared of them. Because if they flip their lid one day, and the voices are no longer telling them to be good and just, they will still believe them and do their bidding.
IMO, we should be teaching people that if you have gods speaking to you, you should seek immediate help.
Right, I understand. I'm saying that it's fairly typical for people to still be pretty deranged until puberty's hormones have normalized. That doesn't necessarily have anything to do with schooling. I think a majority of people are technically insane for several years in their teens. I know I was.
We're ALL socially inept. My sister and I being a bit more competent than any of the boys.
Do you think that homeschooling causes social ineptitude, or is it more attractive to people who tend to be socially inept anyway?
I was public schooled and was a mess from 15-21 also. Are you sure it wasn't just the age, and not the schooling?
I have twin brothers...I and one of the twins were homeschooled for 4 years. The other twin was homeschooled only 1 year. My sister and two youngest brothers, not homeschooled at all.
We're all equally socially inept.
I agree that learning basic social interaction is necessary, but one can learn that at home. You're talking as though school teaches people to be popular extroverts. It doesn't. Most popular extroverts were born that way and would be that way no matter what.
I wish I had a link, but months ago we had outraged parents writing letters to the editor because the middle school history teacher said that Columbus raped and pillaged. This was not the history that they wanted their kids taught. Columbus was a HERO, who discovered America! He was not a bad man!
You're probably being facetious, but see The Church's homepage.
FTA: Few people realize that when they buy software or music or movies, they are actually buying a license to use, watch or listen. That's why it violates copyright laws for people to sell copies of their music collection."
This is unclear, unfortunately. It's not easy to discern which of the following they meant:
It violates copyright laws for people to sell copies they made of their music collection
or
It violates copyright laws for people to resell legally purchased copies (licenses) of their music collection.
I'm sure it happens in more places than just Dallas. I used to be buddy-buddy with the librarian at our high school. I saw some of the crap she bought, and that was even for the school. But like a lot of corporate America, you are actually punished for being frugal - if you don't spend your whole budget this year, you get a smaller one next year, when you may actually need it. So, better to buy a bunch of crap so your budget doesn't get cut.
Raw carrots are about $1/180kCal. Lettuce, you're getting down around $1/50kCal. I don't know the $/lb on spinach, but 15 cups/1lb is only 105 calories!! 1/4lb of Broccoli is only 40 calories. You have to eat a lb of Asparagus ($4 here) to get 100 calories.
And of course, that's not even counting the time spent preparing the veggies, nor the fact that you have to go back to the store every 3 damn days. You can't stock up on 30 lbs of veggies when they're on sale, lest they all rot in the fridge and become worthless.
Don't get me wrong, I eat my veggies now, but there are things I miss about dropping $150 on HotPockets and not having to hit the store again for a month.
And of course, remember - vitamins are necessary for health, but lack of calories will kill you faster than lack of vitamins.
All caloric info from Nutrition Data.
We already have a standardized phonetic way to spell English words. It's called "Shorthand".
I once got a spam from an internet cowbell emporium. All they sold was Cowbells. I'm dead serious.
Sports spectatorship IS war, essentially - two groups competing while trying to defend their own territory. Yelling "GO 49ers!!!" is not that different than saying "USA!! SUPPORT OUR TROOPS!". It's power. Sex and power, that's what drives much of humanity.
Did that on a Mac, with a twist.
I went to empty the trash and then took a screenshot of the "Are you sure?" dialogue box.
Pasted it into Photoshop, and used the appropriate font (Georgia?) to change it..
"The System Folder is in the trash. Are you sure you want to empty it?"
It fooled IT for a few minutes.
Last time the power went out while I was at Target. They have a generator sufficient to power about 1/20 of the lights, and the registers, so you can still buy stuff. I made my purchases and left, only to be shocked at the pitch-black parking lot. I fumbled my way to the car, opened the trunk, and was momentarily startled to see my trunk light working.
I'm not a moron, just a creature of habit like most people.
Tech support story - really generic, unfortunately, but on at least 5 occasions a user has complained of "hackers" in their computer (an iMac) which actually translates to "I've left a giant stack of crap on my keyboard again."
Or could it be because the "powers-that-be" themselves operate on the same policy?
What's your point? I'm atheist and work side-by-side with Christians and other religions too. Somehow, I'm still atheist.
http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?s= 69fc2a15bdc51cc2768b86195629762f&threadid=1888999& perpage=40&pagenumber=6
On the contrary, he posted this month.
You'll notice he didn't say "cut in front of", just "slow down, encourage tailgating". In cases of tailgating, the driver in the rear is always held responsible. Besides, I was trying not to hit the squirrel that ran across the road...honest.
Did the people in the experiment dial the phones too, or just talk on them? In my experience, dialing the phone is the most dangerous part as it requires your eyes and at least one hand.
Old people tend to get into slow crashes. Parking lot crashes are a biggie, and they get into many more accidents while making left turns than do younger drivers.
From the IIHS's facts on old people page..
Teenagers, on the other hand, tend to get in single-vehicle, higher-speed collisions. They're more susceptible to distractions, such as passengers and cell phones.
(From the IIHS's teenagers fact page.You're not paying for someone else's kids' education. You're paying us all back for YOUR education, which you received for free some years ago.