Duff

27 ms·

301.
by Duff 15y ago
Absolutely. My jr/sr high school transitioned from the old-fashioned "tracked" strategy to the current, mixed trend when I was in 8th grade. The result: lots of downtime for me. The idiots continued to be idiots, except that parents complai
302.
by Duff 15y ago
Something like 75% of Americans don't have $2,000 to their name. So the bank isn't making money in the ways that they traditionally did (lending deposits). Basic banking services are not profit centers for banks at all. They only offer thos
303.
by Duff 15y ago
That's precisely the point. To adapt the lawyer joke: Q: How do you tell that a Facebook spokesperson is lying? A: Check to see if his lips are moving. Facebook has demonstrated on numerous occasions from the earliest days of the product th
304.
by Duff 15y ago
Government is very hierarchical. Everyone basically makes the same amount of money, so status is the only differentiation between people. I worked for a government agency for a long time. At one point of my career, bigshots at the director
305.
by Duff 15y ago
Their craziness doesn't matter. Usually crazy customers aren't rich. So if you build to their craziness, you'll lose the customer. You need to build an appropriate infrastructure that will win the bid, figure out what you can achieve (99.9%
306.
by Duff 15y ago
I think it's appropriate to have a title on a business card or whatever that describes your role in a meaningful way. "Principal", "Founder", etc. Corporate titles sound silly in small businesses -- I had my driveway sealed by the "Presiden
307.
by Duff 15y ago
It didn't take an economist or soothsayer to call these things. A war economy with a massive run-up in property prices that were clearly irrational is a formula for disaster. Hell, the financial crisis had a early warning alarm. Bear Sterns
308.
by Duff 15y ago
If I overreacted, I apologize. I've heard of farmers leasing land, but I've never heard the term "sharecropper" used in a modern setting. My grandfather's family were sharecroppers in Ireland, so I grew up with view of the practice that may
309.
by Duff 15y ago
It's hard to change when you've used a tool effectively for so long. How long did Linus resist using ANY source control software?
310.
by Duff 15y ago
Only an idiot would evict the farmer in the middle of the season. You wait until after the harvest.
311.
by Duff 15y ago
Huh? Sharecropping exists when landowners have limited access to capital, but extensive land holdings and abundant access to indigent labor. It was a technique devised to keep the tenant around until after harvest time. Poor farmers have lo
312.
by Duff 15y ago
As long as you have the ability to start earning quickly and are smart about it, you can get through that without breaking your credit record. The key to dealing with credit cards is understanding the terms -- it's all written down in a lit
313.
by Duff 15y ago
IMO LTE isn't that big of a deal. Fast is ok, but getting hosed by the carriers for the privilege of using it is not so ok. If I were Apple, I would be focusing on diversifying the carrier portfolios to gain leverage over the vendors for a
314.
by Duff 15y ago
I tend to agree, but then I'm a well-paid IT guy. 90% of the population probably doesn't have $10k of assets. So while $10k isn't alot of money, it is out of the ordinary, especially if you are able to store it out of the country.
315.
by Duff 15y ago
Not at all. Roman tax collectors were private contractors who were responsible for paying Caesar his due. Upon winning the bid, the collector would pay Rome in advance, and collect the taxation over a period of time. They had broad powers t
316.
by Duff 15y ago
No way. Most people live paycheck to paycheck. 50% of Americans are unable to raise $2,000 within 30 days.
317.
by Duff 15y ago
What is the security concern?
318.
by Duff 15y ago
When cell phones were new, there was some hand-waving regarding the risks of planes crashing, respirators stopping, etc. As is often the case, these risks were not very credible. The signs stay up because while the RF signals won't kill any
319.
by Duff 15y ago
The whole Blackboard thing is interesting. But what I found most refreshing is that the author actually presents himself as a bona-fide public servant, and seems to give a hoot about what that is supposed to mean. These days as a society we
320.
by Duff 15y ago
I agree. IMO, it shouldn't be an open secret that the top performers make more. Designate them Senior Widget-Makers or whatever. If they are masters of their craft, recognize them for it. When things are kept secret, there are abuses. The t
321.
by Duff 15y ago
Exactly -- inequity is the issue, not disclosure. It's a bigger issue for the employer -- it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that certain people are buying new cars at bonus time, while others cannot afford lunch.
322.
by Duff 15y ago
When I went to buy a new car, the salesman said the "market for trade-ins was awful", and my car was worth like $8,000. Meanwhile, not 50 feet away, the same car with more miles was listed for $22,000. The salesman fluff I heard is identica
323.
by Duff 15y ago
That concept just doesn't work for knowledge workers. Cash incentives for non-mechanical tasks have minimal value. You need to pay people enough, but not too much. The rest is about having leadership in place that can create a good work env
324.
by Duff 15y ago
People get over it. I work for a public sector employer. My salary is fully searchable and posted on the local newspaper's website. Unless your company is doing dumb things like discriminating against certain types of people, there aren't m
325.
by Duff 15y ago
You need to be able to figure out what's negotiable and what isn't. I work for one of those massive organizations that everyone hates doing business with, but sort of has to. I've watched dozens of vendors spin their wheels for months over
326.
by Duff 15y ago
To be followed by: "crashinmybasement.com" and "hideinmyattic.com"
327.
by Duff 15y ago
I'm really disappointed in Lion -- lots of gratuitous changes without much benefit. The Finder in particular is horrific. I do like the new Terminal.app.
328.
by Duff 15y ago
Intrinsic value is set by the marketplace. Right now, the market perception is that prime numbers (or whatever bitcoins are) are scarce, valuable resources.
329.
by Duff 15y ago
A penny is made of zinc, but not all zinc is a penny. A square is a rectangle, but not all rectangles are squares. Scott is on the right path -- there's some sort of threshold where a substance is more valued as a transaction medium than fo
330.
by Duff 15y ago
Bitcoin is not a flawed experiment -- it made the mysterious early adopters quite a bit of money.

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