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I feel like I would be safe saying 99%(if not all) of this paper is not small business paper. These are the debts that are sold off in large parcels by banks and credit card companies.

Small businesses typically use flat fee collection agencies and rarely charge of the debt like this. Part of the reason is because to a small business charging off $10K in debt is going make them a couple hundred bucks at most.

There is no "little guy" getting stiffed by bad debtors in this story.


Whats interesting is that most small collection agencies are getting squeezed out, due to the high cost of regulation.


Father was a personal injury lawyer. Son was a debt collector. Solid family values over at the Seigels.


Both are perfectly legitimate practices if done correctly. People need a lawyer to sue if they've been injured by someone's negligence, and companies need debt collectors if they want to recoup some of their lost costs.

Of course, there are a lot of scumbags in both professions, but I don't see any reason why there can't be decent people there as well.


I'm very glad this video talks about the most likely first to be removed.

I'm so confused why everyone thinks the least expensive to purchase(low skill labor) will be replaced first when it requires the most expensive version of AI(robots).

Some more insight on this is research into why Wal-Marts did not cause as much employment loss as feared, but instead removed "community leaders" from the area. Because Wal-Mart did all of it's professional services back at corporate headquarters, the area it moved into lost all of those people. The first line of true AI will be very similar to a WalMart moving into town.


Because success in the US is 90% networking and who you know.


Sad, but true.


The trick, then, is to do what I did: Move to SF for a year or two, make a bunch of connections, then move (back) to wherever you want.


And that bunch of connections will still care about you (if they ever did) when you lived far away for years?


True. I have found the farther away you go and the longer away you are, connections fade. No matter how 'connected' you felt they were. I guess it's just human nature. Friends are different.


If they don't care about you anymore, it wasn't much of a connection was it?


I think it's funny how the same NIMBY policies that all the techno-libertarians hate so much, are the same policies that made San Francisco a more desirable place to live for said techno-libertarians than San Jose and the East Bay.

Personally, I hate NIMBYs but I also hate SF.


> and maybe even art

hahahahahaha.... oh scientists....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZ6pehGKdW4


I imagine if you spent most of your time worrying about language design in general, your "business apps dev" wouldn't be too successful. Some people look a little further than the meal on their own plate.


"Why they're important". I feel like that is a pretty tough one to generalize.


For people that you _might_ forget it should be pretty easy to summarize in a sentence or two. Two sentences should easily cover when, where, and why you met. Throw in common contacts and you're good to go. Obviously these same two sentences might not encapsulate why your wife is important to you, but, really, you aren't quite likely to forget that either.


I just meant it felt kind of creepy.


Why do you say that? It seems like an important thing to keep track of, for people who you don't keep in regular contact with. Prevents "Who the heck is Greg Bobberton?", if you can just look and see "Greg Bobberton: that guy from the Widgetpalooza conference, was interested in that one idea I had" (obviously with less vague specifics).

Why do you feel it would be a creepy feature?


The reason for banning it is more about stuff like flying over a field with detection equipment looking for marijuana, it's not because hemp will get you high.


Looking at the history of it, the reason for banning it seems to be largely down to pressure from the cotton industry. So, the fact that some strains could get you high was the method used to outlaw it, not the reason why it was outlawed.


Ugh, I forgot I was posting in a pot thread.


maybe consider cutting back a little...


While getting "walked" is the short story, you could flatten this out to other overbooked rentals like automobiles. If you can set up a system that is efficient enough to allow a company to overbook without worrying about hurting customer satisfaction I imagine there is a lot of money to be made.


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