Maybe it's because I've popped around from industry to industry, but...
When I worked in the financial industry, I used Excel's financial formulae often. When I was running my own business, I used the database functions frequently. Now, working as an analyst, the stat and database formulae are my meat.
I think the strength of Excel - and all M$ bashing aside, it's a pretty good product - is that it supports many different communities of users, and it does so with a standard interface. It's a lot easier to learn how to use a new function than it is to learn a whole new program. Goog is going to have come up with something really special to convince me to change.
Intrigued by your post, I opened Windows Help and entered "windows clipboard". Not one article that described the feature, how to use it, or even how to access it. Small wonder it doesn't get used.
"she better have some CHARTS AND GRAPHS with her or her presentation won't be entertaining enough."
I'm a data analyst, and I know there are times when the figures are enough, and other times when charts and graphs get the point across much more quickly and accurately. Go read Edward Tufte, and come back when you've learned something.
Spot on! Before the "energy crisis", speed limits were 70 mph in Ontario on controlled access highways. The dreaded "double nickel" came about to (supposedly) save gas.
And those were cars without antilock brakes, 3 point seatbelts, airbags, and crumple zones. Cars are much safer now than they were, and capable of travelling at 70 mph quite easily without endangering anyone. As you noted, traffic does move at around 70-75 mph on highways throughout the US and Canada; whether you get a ticket is dependent on whether the officer has met his quota or not.
I'm a Canadian, but I did work in Detroit for a couple of years. At Blue Cross, their vacation policy was very generous - if you had been there 25 years (which a surprising number of people had), you qualified for 25 vacation days (5 weeks). One woman in the telecom department where I worked had 25 days; she never got to use more than ten. Why? Her supervisor refused to authorize it. I asked her why she didn't complain to HR, and her response was "I can't afford to have Susan mad at me; if I lost this job, I'd never get full health care benefits anywhere else". So I'd agree with the PP; american corporate culture does take advantage of individuals.
I also wonder about the choice of Excel. It's a pretty good program - I work with it every day - but to me, the office productivity program that blew me away in 1985 was Lotus Jazz for the Mac. There were so many innovations there - an integrated suite where you could cut and paste easily from different applications, hot links where updating data in the spreadsheet could update the chart that resided in the word processing document, the whole idea of workbooks instead of distinct files - we take all those things for granted today, but as someone trying to produce documentation for telecom systems in those days, I can tell you how difficult it was. Changing a diagram meant laying it out with letraset, pasting in the text by hand, photographing the whole thing - a single change would take most of the day. When the art department saw the ability to make a change and have a laser copy in seconds, it blew their minds.
The whole MS Office platform is a direct descendant of Jazz, as much as MS will deny it.
Interesting that when I tried to install half the patches, a window popped up
saying "In order to protect you from malicious software, Internet Explorer will
not allow this download".
How nice of M$ to protect me from their own software.
From TFA "Law enforcement agencies have found hyper-sophisticated setups of crude labs and hydroponic pot greenhouses, which are used to synthesise crystal meth"
So, like, is the lab hyper-sophisticated or crude, man? And you can make meth out of pot? Groovy!
Which is why I won't download WGA. However, it seems that not doing so blocks me from all the latest security updates, etc. So I either let MS put spyware on my machine, or I leave it vulnerable to everyone else. Thanks Bill! (I have a legit copy of Windows, BTW, purchased with my Dell.)
"Hopefully the Feds will lose this attempt to secure the tape but at the same time hopefully he will turn it over to someone if it shows a crime being committed"
When I read TFA, it seemed to me his concern was that the feds would use the footage to identify protestors, regardless of whether there is any footage of the car being burned. Are you suggesting that we should become spies for the government, helping them to identify people who disagree with their pollicies? If there is a criminal act on the tape, I agree he should hand it over, but I'll take his word that there isn't.
1 - Situations change, requirements change, and so the software needs to change. A license fee encourages a development company to keep someone current on the licensed software, so that when you need changes, you get action and not blank looks.
2 - You may not be aware of this, but most software comes accompanied by "bugs". These are often not found in the development process. Again, a license fee encourages the development company to fix them promptly, whereas when you buy the software upfront, the vendor has little incentive to fix *your* particular problem (he'll focus on the most common issues).
Er, how do you figure that American revolutionaries were terrorists? Did they wage war against British civilians? No. Did they fail to dress in military uniform? No. Did they respect the rules of engagement by tending to the wounded, and treating captured prisoners of war humanely? Yes.
They were at war with Britain, yes, but they were not terrorists.
FWIW, I'm Canadian with British and American grandparents, so I've no axe to grind here.
I'm complaining because CD's are cheaper to make than vinyl or cassettes, but their prices are higher. I used to buy LP's for $3.99, sometimes even $1.99. And, that was in the days when laying down tracks meant hours of manually snipping tape, not simple digital edits. So I see that costs have gone down, but prices have gone up. To me, that's gouging, and I simply don't buy CD's any more.
But I do feel sympathy to artists. Why should I be able to get their work for free? They need to eat too. I use Limewire to download music from LP's, cassettes, and CD's that I paid for, but are lost, stolen, or unusable. I feel no guilt about that. The **AA's position that I have to pay for every medium I want to hear the music on is complete BS to me. Once I pay for it, I should be free to put it on any device or system that I want.
I don't download music I haven't paid for (pr0n is a different story, of course). Well, maybe if the work is really hard to get, like the Kinks' "I'm not like everybody else" - try to find that at your local record store. If the **AA's business model makes it impossible for me to get works legally, I'm going to get them through filesharing. But overall, I'm voting with my dollars by not buying CD's.
Of course, the fact that most modern music is utter crap makes that an easy decision.
"it does result in a benefit... the "absence of a loss" happening that's what... they're a bet that you can't lose. "
You appear to be confusing "employee share purchase" with "options". In the former, you are (usually) allowed to buy shares at slightly below market prices. This is your decision to make, but once you've made it, you are committed to purchase the shares. An "option" is exactly that - an option to buy shares at a specified price. If, when the options vest, the strike price is higher than the market price (your options are "under water" in the industry lingo), you simply choose not to exercise them. That is not a financial benefit by anyone's standards, including the SEC.
OK, I'll stop with the insults. But, how many times are you going to make a similar 'mistakes'? I spend a lot of time and energy studying markets, and my advice has proven pretty sound. People who don't know what they are talking about, or worse, know only a little, can mislead others into making financial decisions that are sub-optimal. For example - "how could suggesting someone invest conservatively be considered harmful?". Well, given that interest rates on many "conservative" investments are lower than the inflation rate (which is horribly understated by a government which needs to keep the posted CPI down to 1) protect the dollar, and 2) save it billions in COLA), that advice means the OP's investment erodes over time.
To me, that's harmful. Sure, you should always have a cash component in your portfolio (and mine was as high as 60% in 1999), but you need growth components to combat inflation. Plus we really need to understand the OP's situation - when does he want to retire, is he married, does he own or rent a home, etc., etc. I wouldn't give out anything but the most general advice on/., and the most important piece would be sit down with a competent financial advisor. Spend some money to protect the rest of it!
Slashdot Mirror
When I worked in the financial industry, I used Excel's financial formulae often. When I was running my own business, I used the database functions frequently. Now, working as an analyst, the stat and database formulae are my meat.
I think the strength of Excel - and all M$ bashing aside, it's a pretty good product - is that it supports many different communities of users, and it does so with a standard interface. It's a lot easier to learn how to use a new function than it is to learn a whole new program. Goog is going to have come up with something really special to convince me to change.
Intrigued by your post, I opened Windows Help and entered "windows clipboard". Not one article that described the feature, how to use it, or even how to access it. Small wonder it doesn't get used.
I'm a data analyst, and I know there are times when the figures are enough, and other times when charts and graphs get the point across much more quickly and accurately. Go read Edward Tufte, and come back when you've learned something.
English talking very much?
And those were cars without antilock brakes, 3 point seatbelts, airbags, and crumple zones. Cars are much safer now than they were, and capable of travelling at 70 mph quite easily without endangering anyone. As you noted, traffic does move at around 70-75 mph on highways throughout the US and Canada; whether you get a ticket is dependent on whether the officer has met his quota or not.
I'm a Canadian, but I did work in Detroit for a couple of years. At Blue Cross, their vacation policy was very generous - if you had been there 25 years (which a surprising number of people had), you qualified for 25 vacation days (5 weeks). One woman in the telecom department where I worked had 25 days; she never got to use more than ten. Why? Her supervisor refused to authorize it. I asked her why she didn't complain to HR, and her response was "I can't afford to have Susan mad at me; if I lost this job, I'd never get full health care benefits anywhere else". So I'd agree with the PP; american corporate culture does take advantage of individuals.
I agree this is old news. LTCM and 1988, anyone?
Yes, but I keep them turned off.
The whole MS Office platform is a direct descendant of Jazz, as much as MS will deny it.
Like he's ever been laid....
But it's not the hardware - it's the DRM! If you don't subscribe to Sony and the **AA's scheme, they make your laptop explode!
How nice of M$ to protect me from their own software.
So, like, is the lab hyper-sophisticated or crude, man? And you can make meth out of pot? Groovy!
Hey, don't Bogart that thing...
Which is why I won't download WGA. However, it seems that not doing so blocks me from all the latest security updates, etc. So I either let MS put spyware on my machine, or I leave it vulnerable to everyone else. Thanks Bill! (I have a legit copy of Windows, BTW, purchased with my Dell.)
Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to take my 15-inch penis out for a walk.
But will it taunt the Happy Fun Ball?
When I read TFA, it seemed to me his concern was that the feds would use the footage to identify protestors, regardless of whether there is any footage of the car being burned. Are you suggesting that we should become spies for the government, helping them to identify people who disagree with their pollicies? If there is a criminal act on the tape, I agree he should hand it over, but I'll take his word that there isn't.
1 - Situations change, requirements change, and so the software needs to change. A license fee encourages a development company to keep someone current on the licensed software, so that when you need changes, you get action and not blank looks.
2 - You may not be aware of this, but most software comes accompanied by "bugs". These are often not found in the development process. Again, a license fee encourages the development company to fix them promptly, whereas when you buy the software upfront, the vendor has little incentive to fix *your* particular problem (he'll focus on the most common issues).
RIM makes the Blackberry. Are you suggesting they extorted themselves?
They were at war with Britain, yes, but they were not terrorists.
FWIW, I'm Canadian with British and American grandparents, so I've no axe to grind here.
But I do feel sympathy to artists. Why should I be able to get their work for free? They need to eat too. I use Limewire to download music from LP's, cassettes, and CD's that I paid for, but are lost, stolen, or unusable. I feel no guilt about that. The **AA's position that I have to pay for every medium I want to hear the music on is complete BS to me. Once I pay for it, I should be free to put it on any device or system that I want.
I don't download music I haven't paid for (pr0n is a different story, of course). Well, maybe if the work is really hard to get, like the Kinks' "I'm not like everybody else" - try to find that at your local record store. If the **AA's business model makes it impossible for me to get works legally, I'm going to get them through filesharing. But overall, I'm voting with my dollars by not buying CD's.
Of course, the fact that most modern music is utter crap makes that an easy decision.
Only if it stars a naked and petrified Natalie Portman
No, no, no. Bubble Vista!
You appear to be confusing "employee share purchase" with "options". In the former, you are (usually) allowed to buy shares at slightly below market prices. This is your decision to make, but once you've made it, you are committed to purchase the shares. An "option" is exactly that - an option to buy shares at a specified price. If, when the options vest, the strike price is higher than the market price (your options are "under water" in the industry lingo), you simply choose not to exercise them. That is not a financial benefit by anyone's standards, including the SEC.
To me, that's harmful. Sure, you should always have a cash component in your portfolio (and mine was as high as 60% in 1999), but you need growth components to combat inflation. Plus we really need to understand the OP's situation - when does he want to retire, is he married, does he own or rent a home, etc., etc. I wouldn't give out anything but the most general advice on /., and the most important piece would be sit down with a competent financial advisor. Spend some money to protect the rest of it!