Square charges a flat 2.7%, with no monthly charges. A merchant account with a payment gateway costs around $30 a month and 2.5%, accepting AMEX cost another $15 a month and the rate is 3.3%, but Squate does that for free.
"I'm going to do my best to live without being a consumer of gasoline, just as I did in Chicago."
Good luck with this. I don't think he realizes how pedestrian unfriendly cities in the Southwest are. He'll quickly realize a trip to pick up groceries will take 2 hours via bus, and he'll be forced to walk without sidewalks in 105 degree heat to the bus stop while everyone else drives by in airconditioned cars looking upon him like he is homeless.
Also at 100k people it isn't exactly "small town America" as the article claims.
I started to wonder about the actual size when he mentioned "reasonably extensive" bus service and then four colleges. And maybe my estimation is skewed from having grown up in the suburbs instead of Chicago itself, but I would expect living in an actual small town to be a lot cheaper than just 30% under.
Tyler is the county seat of Smith County; that's why it has 100,000 people. For comparison, the Tyler/Longview (nearest city of size that isn't a suburb of the other) area has about 415,000 people. The population of the next-nearest major area in Texas? Dallas/Fort Worth at 6.6 million people. The question of what makes up "small town America" is somewhat fuzzy, but Tyler, compared to an 70 minute drive (not at all unreasonable for a state the size of Texas) west, fits the bill.
The other point from anamax about the city slicker teaching the yokels how it should be done is very apt. There is a reason why hackers gravitate towards Silicon Valley: people like to be with other people who are doing the same thing. Tyler is by no means dumb. As the author--who admittedly also posted here that he didn't want to debate the article--points out, there are two universities (University of Texas-affiliated, I might add) and two junior colleges. The area is also home to pipe and robotics companies. It is also very insular, especially when it comes to "being shown how things are done" because the Dallas area has been the older, wiser brother to Tyler for decades.
Oh, and "nothing about local politics?" I guess the reporting from KLTV, the oldest television station in Tyler, doesn't count.[1]
In Europe (at least continental), there is a clear distinction between "village" and "town", because historically, "town" was a legal status granted by the king or church (city would be perhaps the town where the archbishop would have his seat), but it wasn't necessarily distinguished so much by its size, they'd be all very small.
Personally, I'd but the line between "town" and "city" to having some kind of rapid rail transit. (That'd mean, for example, that in the country where I live is just one city.)
My point was that the size of a 'small town' varies by context, and that a town of 1,000 would be tiny even in the context of a place that doesn't have many people.
Also, 'city' in the UK is to do with a special government/crown-granted status, not really the population per se.
Yup, there's not a distinct correlation between buying early and getting the best price. Sometimes the best price doesn't show up until a week before the departure. Sometimes the best price is attained when purchasing months prior to departure. The only thing you can bet on is that the cheapest fares are usually attained when you fly out on a Wednesday. Monday flights are more expensive as it's typically for business travelers, and Friday/Saturday flights are expensive as well because of vacationers. If you can fly to your destination on a Wednesday instead of a few days later, you'll usually save a bunch of money.
Re: when to purchase a ticket, Farecast (now owned by Bing) was the best predictor I've seen.
I second this. If you have ever waited tables or tended a bar, you know that speed is everything.
A fast illogical system is better than a well organized system that requires several actions to get a result. You can front load the work an illogical system requires when you aren't busy, by memorizing the location of menu items, etc.
I agree with your tone...it is a great business they've worked themselves into. However, you are leaving out one major expense; I imagine they're paying the credit card companies between 1-1.5%.
I was a first timer on the first unibody. I still LOVE it. I've never loved a PC, Dell, Sony, HP, ACER, Lenovo or otherwise. Part of that is OSX. I find it so much better than Windows, even after having using Windows most of my life.
I am pretty much the same way. I got a 13" mb a bit before the unibody was announced and the got the 15" in late 2009. Great machine and still very fast. I LOVE it and am amazed at how useful it is to have a computer that you trust to come out of sleep so quickly and that has good battery life. I only wish I have the 15" with the higher resolution screen.
It is naive to think that suicide experts would recommend better working conditions, creating unions, or investing in machines to perform mind-numbing tasks.
Suicide experts have been trained to treat the problem of suicidal thinking, not the potential causes. If someone is suicidal because of depression, they tell them to talk about it and take an antidepressant. They don't advocate to their boss that they would be better off if they got paid more so they could work less and had better food in the cafeteria.
I third this. The way you have that slide written is misleading, and frankly, lame. You don't need to make it appear like you "worked at/for Apple" and that is the way it is written. Reshoot that slide.
Otherwise, I like the FB resume deal, this one time. If I ever see anyone else do this, that is a different story.
