Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jan 6, 2017 18:28:47 GMT -5
70 at home and if my wife had her way it would be 72. So when I am home I am in boxers only because damn it is hot. But not worth fighting over.... just leave it at 70. When she increases it to 71-72 I reduce it back down to 70. I guess 70 is my line in the sand Mine is 71. I actually keep it on 69, but I will increase it to 71 if DH complains. Sometimes he puts it up to that, and I move it back down in an hour or two. I try to be sympathetic. He weighs less than 140 pounds and is over 6 feet tall. So you know he doesn't have an ounce of body fat on him. He wears sweats constantly and sometimes even a coat. But turning the heat up doesn't actually change that behavior so I have to be realistic. He's created a $350 gas bill in the past (only once) so I can't just let him turn it up to whatever.
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sesfw
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Post by sesfw on Jan 6, 2017 18:32:51 GMT -5
Dang ....... right now this house is 75 and I'm getting ready to pop it up to 76 Chemo does nasty things to internal thermostats Summer heat doesn't really bother me until about 107 F When in Michigan I wear everything I can and still stand in front of the fireplace.
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naughtybear
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Post by naughtybear on Jan 6, 2017 19:42:15 GMT -5
68 all year round. Unless it's cold then I kick the heat on. I refuse to be uncomfortable in my home when I can control it. It goes on my luxury line item.
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wvugurl26
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Post by wvugurl26 on Jan 6, 2017 19:50:31 GMT -5
I moved five hours away from home. I'd spent two years after getting my master's trying to make it there. I fully admit it was made way easier because my brother had moved over here 4.5 years before. The first two years I thought I might have made a mistake. My take home went down when you added in all the insurances, 401k, etc I didn't have at the accounting firm. And the cost of living went way up. 6 years later I'd doubled up my salary and then some. I barely missed grossing six figures for 2016. I've gotten my CPA license in two states and I'm working on my fraud examiner's license this year. It's worked out for me. I've had experiences and opportunities I would have never gotten in WV. At the same time I miss home. I couldn't live there full time anymore but sometimes being around DC is too much. I hate having to leave to come back.
Thermostat is on 69. My room is 62. I get cold if I'm just laying around. This explains why I can't sleep at DF's as I think it's like 75 upstairs in his house. Grandma keeps it at 74 during day. I just wear shorts. She'll be 86 this month, she's too damn old to be cold in her own home. The last electric bill was $250. I'd pay it before she's cold at home.
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Post by The Walk of the Penguin Mich on Jan 6, 2017 22:30:28 GMT -5
The thermostat in the house is set at 57 at night, 62 during the day. I'll bump it up to 65 before I shower though, but it only stays up that high 3 hours.
During the night, it's a cold trip to the bathroom as those ceramic tiles get cold!
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dannylion
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Post by dannylion on Jan 6, 2017 22:51:27 GMT -5
I moved five hours away from home. I'd spent two years after getting my master's trying to make it there. I fully admit it was made way easier because my brother had moved over here 4.5 years before. The first two years I thought I might have made a mistake. My take home went down when you added in all the insurances, 401k, etc I didn't have at the accounting firm. And the cost of living went way up. 6 years later I'd doubled up my salary and then some. I barely missed grossing six figures for 2016. I've gotten my CPA license in two states and I'm working on my fraud examiner's license this year. It's worked out for me. I've had experiences and opportunities I would have never gotten in WV. At the same time I miss home. I couldn't live there full time anymore but sometimes being around DC is too much. I hate having to leave to come back. Thermostat is on 69. My room is 62. I get cold if I'm just laying around. This explains why I can't sleep at DF's as I think it's like 75 upstairs in his house. Grandma keeps it at 74 during day. I just wear shorts. She'll be 86 this month, she's too damn old to be cold in her own home. The last electric bill was $250. I'd pay it before she's cold at home. My dad kept the heat turned up in his house beyond my tolerance level, but he was in his 90s and in declining health, so he felt the cold way more than I did. Plus, it was his house, so he got to decide what the temperature would be. I used to visit him regularly, and fortunately the bedrooms had their own thermostats, so I could turn down the heat in the guest bedroom and be able to sleep. Also, I put a fan in the room to keep it nice and cool.
At home I keep the thermostat at 68 in the winter when I'm awake, 60 at night, and I have a fan in the bedroom. I'm nice and comfy with just a sheet and a very thin quilt. Sometimes I just use 2 sheets. Sometimes using 2 sheets isn't quite enough, but using 1 sheet and a quilt is too much. Life is hard.
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Plain Old Petunia
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Post by Plain Old Petunia on Jan 7, 2017 18:53:26 GMT -5
Dang ....... right now this house is 75 and I'm getting ready to pop it up to 76 Chemo does nasty things to internal thermostats Summer heat doesn't really bother me until about 107 F When in Michigan I wear everything I can and still stand in front of the fireplace. Are you going through chemo? Best wishes to you that all goes well.
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DVM gone riding
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Post by DVM gone riding on Jan 7, 2017 23:56:45 GMT -5
Most people have no clue how the computer has impacted things and when it started. We were very early adapters by having a computer in about 1996. Even in our very high end neighborhood (President of MSFT lived down the block) I would guess that less than half the homes had a personal computer. I dont think computers really hit the home till about 1999 to 2004 or later for most people. They were crude and unreliable. There was no Google. The search engine of choice was Alta Vista. It was not till after 2000 that average people started to be able to do their investing by computer. How quickly people forget. I remember guys going in to Merrill Lynch at lunch in the early 1980's to check the stock ticker that scrolled in the reception area. As late as 1996 to 1999, I was doing telephone orders when momentum trading by using the phone key pad, punching in the symbol, and using the key pad on the phone to enter my account, prompt buy and sell, etc. COME ON....Google was not even started till the end of 1998. I graduated hs in 1999. Computers were every where by then. Our first computer was an apple iie when i was 8. I wrote papers in computer starting in 5th grade. Everything i did in college was in computer and all research started with computer though at that time you weren't allowed to quote a website. Almost all kids had a computer in their dorm rooms but very few had a laptop. It was still a lot of transition from dos base programs to windows at the time but from 9th grade on i used the internet
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justme
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Post by justme on Jan 8, 2017 0:33:47 GMT -5
It's 43 outside and my heat is at 72 and I'm wearing muk luk, yoga pants, a hoodie, and about a bottle of wine deep...and frankly I prob should put socks on but I'm mostly ok.
Last year my bill was higher in the winter than summer - and I live in Florida! So this year when is gotten cold I wear my muk luk and hoodie I've bought. So far my bill has been cheaper.
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beergut
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Post by beergut on Jan 8, 2017 1:59:18 GMT -5
Most people have no clue how the computer has impacted things and when it started. We were very early adapters by having a computer in about 1996. Even in our very high end neighborhood (President of MSFT lived down the block) I would guess that less than half the homes had a personal computer. I dont think computers really hit the home till about 1999 to 2004 or later for most people. They were crude and unreliable. There was no Google. The search engine of choice was Alta Vista. It was not till after 2000 that average people started to be able to do their investing by computer. How quickly people forget. I remember guys going in to Merrill Lynch at lunch in the early 1980's to check the stock ticker that scrolled in the reception area. As late as 1996 to 1999, I was doing telephone orders when momentum trading by using the phone key pad, punching in the symbol, and using the key pad on the phone to enter my account, prompt buy and sell, etc. COME ON....Google was not even started till the end of 1998. We had computers in my house in the 1980's, computers plural. If you were just getting a computer in your house in 1996, you were a late adapter, not an early adapter. I can remember getting a TI computer in the early 1980's, it had BASIC loaded, and used cartridges for data storage.
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cronewitch
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Post by cronewitch on Jan 8, 2017 3:06:52 GMT -5
Most people have no clue how the computer has impacted things and when it started. We were very early adapters by having a computer in about 1996. Even in our very high end neighborhood (President of MSFT lived down the block) I would guess that less than half the homes had a personal computer. I dont think computers really hit the home till about 1999 to 2004 or later for most people. They were crude and unreliable. There was no Google. The search engine of choice was Alta Vista. It was not till after 2000 that average people started to be able to do their investing by computer. How quickly people forget. I remember guys going in to Merrill Lynch at lunch in the early 1980's to check the stock ticker that scrolled in the reception area. As late as 1996 to 1999, I was doing telephone orders when momentum trading by using the phone key pad, punching in the symbol, and using the key pad on the phone to enter my account, prompt buy and sell, etc. COME ON....Google was not even started till the end of 1998. We had computers in my house in the 1980's, computers plural. If you were just getting a computer in your house in 1996, you were a late adapter, not an early adapter. I can remember getting a TI computer in the early 1980's, it had BASIC loaded, and used cartridges for data storage. My family got computers starting around 1983. Mom got the TI with cartridges when her grandson was 13 so he got a Commodore 64. I got a 5 terminal Unix system at work. In 1989 I changed jobs and got a 286 and bought my first home computer as a 386. The thing is we didn't have internet. I first connected to the internet after 1994. The boy had message boards with his commodore. I knew someone trying to write stock trading software in the 80. Internet didn't take off until they removed the per minute charge. My SIL was a college student and had to use the internet but limited her searches because of cost. I used my first computer in 1974 but it was in school.
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tallguy
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Post by tallguy on Jan 8, 2017 4:46:41 GMT -5
Most people have no clue how the computer has impacted things and when it started. We were very early adapters by having a computer in about 1996. Even in our very high end neighborhood (President of MSFT lived down the block) I would guess that less than half the homes had a personal computer. I dont think computers really hit the home till about 1999 to 2004 or later for most people. They were crude and unreliable. There was no Google. The search engine of choice was Alta Vista. It was not till after 2000 that average people started to be able to do their investing by computer. How quickly people forget. I remember guys going in to Merrill Lynch at lunch in the early 1980's to check the stock ticker that scrolled in the reception area. As late as 1996 to 1999, I was doing telephone orders when momentum trading by using the phone key pad, punching in the symbol, and using the key pad on the phone to enter my account, prompt buy and sell, etc. COME ON....Google was not even started till the end of 1998. We had computers in my house in the 1980's, computers plural. If you were just getting a computer in your house in 1996, you were a late adapter, not an early adapter. I can remember getting a TI computer in the early 1980's, it had BASIC loaded, and used cartridges for data storage. Yeah. I remember having a Laser 50 in maybe the mid-to-late-'80's. I think I won it as a prize somewhere. The first "real" computer was an XT that my wife brought home from work in about 1991. As I recall it had dual floppies and a 20MB hard drive. Anyone want Windows 3.1 on 3.5" floppies or DOS 5.0 on 5.25"? Or dial-up modems? You know, though, I think we might be a little off-topic with all this.... Maybe it would have been better as its own thread?
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gooddecisions
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Post by gooddecisions on Jan 8, 2017 8:17:56 GMT -5
We had computers in my house in the 1980's, computers plural. If you were just getting a computer in your house in 1996, you were a late adapter, not an early adapter. I can remember getting a TI computer in the early 1980's, it had BASIC loaded, and used cartridges for data storage. Yeah. I remember having a Laser 50 in maybe the mid-to-late-'80's. I think I won it as a prize somewhere. The first "real" computer was an XT that my wife brought home from work in about 1991. As I recall it had dual floppies and a 20MB hard drive. Anyone want Windows 3.1 on 3.5" floppies or DOS 5.0 on 5.25"? Or dial-up modems? You know, though, I think we might be a little off-topic with all this.... Maybe it would have been better as its own thread? I had the exact same thought. I lived in very poor WV in the 80's and our elementary school had computers. I distinctly remember playing Oregon Trail by 1985. My middle-class side of the family had a personal computer by 1990 and I remember playing chutes and ladders. We had dial up by 1993 at home on that computer and when I went to college in 1995, I got a personal computer for my dorm as did 100% of the student population (although it wasn't technically required). I went to Virginia Tech and the electronic village had already been established. No dial-up, all ethernet.
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Lizard Queen
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Post by Lizard Queen on Jan 8, 2017 9:19:21 GMT -5
Most people have no clue how the computer has impacted things and when it started. We were very early adapters by having a computer in about 1996. Even in our very high end neighborhood (President of MSFT lived down the block) I would guess that less than half the homes had a personal computer. I dont think computers really hit the home till about 1999 to 2004 or later for most people. They were crude and unreliable. There was no Google. The search engine of choice was Alta Vista. It was not till after 2000 that average people started to be able to do their investing by computer. How quickly people forget. I remember guys going in to Merrill Lynch at lunch in the early 1980's to check the stock ticker that scrolled in the reception area. As late as 1996 to 1999, I was doing telephone orders when momentum trading by using the phone key pad, punching in the symbol, and using the key pad on the phone to enter my account, prompt buy and sell, etc. COME ON....Google was not even started till the end of 1998. I graduated hs in 1999. Computers were every where by then. Our first computer was an apple iie when i was 8. I wrote papers in computer starting in 5th grade. Everything i did in college was in computer and all research started with computer though at that time you weren't allowed to quote a website. Almost all kids had a computer in their dorm rooms but very few had a laptop. It was still a lot of transition from dos base programs to windows at the time but from 9th grade on i used the internet I don't understand this. I graduated in 1990, and our first computer was an Apple 2e when I was maybe 9. Granted, my dad was an early adapter, but was that computer old when your family got it? I did write papers on the computer, but it was still a huge pain with the dot matrix printers. My 10th grade teacher insisted that papers be typed on a typewriter instead. I did not. That teacher was blind, so she couldn't tell anyway. We also had one Apple 2e at school to share. We learned how to plot dots in a very cumbersome manner. My first "real" computer class was in 7th grade. A complete waste of time using Commodore 64's. Had another programming class in 10th grade. The computers most of the class had to use were older than that first Apple 2e. Bleh. My first encounter with researching via computer was at university in 1993. It was still very cumbersome--easier just to use the old-fashioned methods. Home internet use didn't become popular until a few years later, when it got much cheaper (like someone else mentioned). From what I remember, things changed quickly in the mid-90's. Remember Windows 95? That was a big evolutionary step in user-friendliness.
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Tiny
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Post by Tiny on Jan 8, 2017 10:03:36 GMT -5
Most people have no clue how the computer has impacted things and when it started. We were very early adapters by having a computer in about 1996. Even in our very high end neighborhood (President of MSFT lived down the block) I would guess that less than half the homes had a personal computer. I dont think computers really hit the home till about 1999 to 2004 or later for most people. They were crude and unreliable. There was no Google. The search engine of choice was Alta Vista. It was not till after 2000 that average people started to be able to do their investing by computer. How quickly people forget. I remember guys going in to Merrill Lynch at lunch in the early 1980's to check the stock ticker that scrolled in the reception area. As late as 1996 to 1999, I was doing telephone orders when momentum trading by using the phone key pad, punching in the symbol, and using the key pad on the phone to enter my account, prompt buy and sell, etc. COME ON....Google was not even started till the end of 1998. We had computers in my house in the 1980's, computers plural. If you were just getting a computer in your house in 1996, you were a late adapter, not an early adapter. I can remember getting a TI computer in the early 1980's, it had BASIC loaded, and used cartridges for data storage. IDK, wxyz might be an "early adopter" of internet use for personal stuff over the internet (ie shopping, banking, etc). AOL started in 1985 -- but Amazon didn't start until 1994... Not sure when on-line banking became available... I'm not sure 'everyday' people were doing much with the internet/computers in the late to early 90's. I'd say wxyz was pretty 'early' adapter in 1996 ESPECIALLY if he wasn't employed in the technical world. The only people I knew who did a lot of internet/home computer stuff (other than play games on their PC) were people already working in IT... the 'regular joes' DID have technology at home - but it was pretty basic and they used it to play games and maybe send email. I know when Amazon and eBay opened shop in 1994/1995 - I was signed up and using their services by 1996... my non-tech family and friends thought I was ABSOLUTELY NUTS (stupid - something horrible would happen to me) for giving out my CC info on line/or sending money to strangers for things I bought on eBay. I loved Amazon - all the books and music CDs I could afford delivered to my door from their astonishingly ginormous offerings. I realized it was the death of book stores AND music stores.
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giramomma
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Post by giramomma on Jan 8, 2017 11:10:04 GMT -5
I grew up lower middle class.
We didn't get a computer until I was in HS. So, 90-91ish.
We didn't even get a color TV until I was 8. (I'm 41).
My parents were careful not to get wrapped up in spending a ton of money on technology. There just wasn't the money to replace, upgrade, etc. (This is how we operate, too. For us, though, it's about priorities. We wanted to have a larger family and still be able to vacation.. Can't do that and spending $400-500/month on technology.)
But, after I hit double digits in age, we were a one income family, and I'm sure my interests ran close to 10% of their gross income.
And truth be told, them sending me to one more music camp/experience, etc was far better for me, in terms of getting into college over having a computer by the time I was 8.
I see the value of some technology, but I don't buy that technology gives you the upper hand. We have to buy iPads for the kids' school once they hit middle school. Yet, at the end of 6th grade, my DS still was borderline failing Spanish. The iPad didn't make my DS apply himself in anyway. Actually, he now has two, because we bought him a mini a few years ago..So, it wasn't like he was applying himself doubly hard because he had two iPads.
I think turning screens off and having my DD1 play connect 4 with me does just as much for her reasoning/strategy skills as her playing any educational apps.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jan 8, 2017 11:31:39 GMT -5
I grew up lower middle class. We didn't get a computer until I was in HS. So, 90-91ish. I think that was about the year my parents got one. I had graduated in 87. There were computers in school, but they weren't exactly awesome. I took typing classes in high school...on a regular typewriter and papers my first couple years in college were not on a word processor. There were computer labs in the college where you could go to do this, but getting time on them was a pain, so many still used typewriters. I know I didn't buy my own computer until I was in my own house for a year or two (like 94 or 95) and my boyfriend (now first ex husband), was a computer geek and majored in computer science and math. He started working in IT in 95, but home computers were just getting started. Also, we were making maybe 28K/year combined back then and I distinctly remember our first computer costing 2K! It was a Packard Bell with Windows 3.1 or 3.2 or something. The cost was insane back then for a computer that really didn't do much.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jan 8, 2017 11:39:44 GMT -5
Yeah. I remember having a Laser 50 in maybe the mid-to-late-'80's. I think I won it as a prize somewhere. The first "real" computer was an XT that my wife brought home from work in about 1991. As I recall it had dual floppies and a 20MB hard drive. Anyone want Windows 3.1 on 3.5" floppies or DOS 5.0 on 5.25"? Or dial-up modems? You know, though, I think we might be a little off-topic with all this.... Maybe it would have been better as its own thread? I had the exact same thought. I lived in very poor WV in the 80's and our elementary school had computers. I distinctly remember playing Oregon Trail by 1985. My middle-class side of the family had a personal computer by 1990 and I remember playing chutes and ladders. We had dial up by 1993 at home on that computer and when I went to college in 1995, I got a personal computer for my dorm as did 100% of the student population (although it wasn't technically required). I went to Virginia Tech and the electronic village had already been established. No dial-up, all ethernet. Stupid Cholera always got me. I grew up in a dinky little town and my aunt was the only person I knew there who had internet in late 95, I remember going there to look at articles on the Chicago Bulls and just hoped each one didn't have a picture or I would sit there and wait 10 mins for one article to download via dial up. I think a little beyond that everyone was on yahoo chat trying to "hook up".
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beergut
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Post by beergut on Jan 8, 2017 15:45:01 GMT -5
I am talking about HOME internet as we use it now, as a functioning, usable interface from the home to the world. Also using computers for stock trading, etc, etc. OBVIOUSLY there were crude computers going way back that had very limited use and were basically word processors or crude game players or number crunchers. Yes, we had our first game system in the 1970's and on and on. Yes, 286 based computers in the work world became common much earlier than the mid 90's. From my memory I would say the 286 was the first chip that got to be very common in the normal, non-tech, business office. Anyone on here that thinks they were using the internet much before 1995 to 2000 for things like we do now is deluding themselves. If you dont remember using Alta Vista as a search engine or dont remember the years of dial up service driving you crazy, your memory is false. For reference: MSFT windows was not launched till the 1990's OS2 did not launch till the mid 1980's Google did not exist till 1996. The 386 chip was not released till the early 1990's. BIG difference between talking about computers and the Internet. I can remember when the only domains allowed on the Internet were .com, .gov, and .edu, and e-commerce wasn't allowed. I can remember getting my first email account in 1995 at college, and thinking they will eventually be able to transfer credit card information over the internet, which would be the birth of e-commerce. I remember AltaVista, I also remember Metacrawler, which was a better search engine, because it incorporated several engines. I remember when Netscape was a superior browser to IE, and how Windows was designed so Netscape couldn't function on their OS in an attempt to boost usage of IE. Windows 1.0 released in 1985.
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beergut
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Post by beergut on Jan 8, 2017 15:49:38 GMT -5
I had the exact same thought. I lived in very poor WV in the 80's and our elementary school had computers. I distinctly remember playing Oregon Trail by 1985. My middle-class side of the family had a personal computer by 1990 and I remember playing chutes and ladders. We had dial up by 1993 at home on that computer and when I went to college in 1995, I got a personal computer for my dorm as did 100% of the student population (although it wasn't technically required). I went to Virginia Tech and the electronic village had already been established. No dial-up, all ethernet. Stupid Cholera always got me. I grew up in a dinky little town and my aunt was the only person I knew there who had internet in late 95, I remember going there to look at articles on the Chicago Bulls and just hoped each one didn't have a picture or I would sit there and wait 10 mins for one article to download via dial up. I think a little beyond that everyone was on yahoo chat trying to "hook up". Ah, yes, your article has a video you want to watch? Begin download, go do something else. Come back 30 minutes later, check to see if download is complete. Download is only 95% complete. Come back 15 minute later, download complete, begin playing video. Halfway through, video begins buffering. Swear, close article, go back to browsing text only.
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formerroomate99
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Post by formerroomate99 on Jan 8, 2017 19:14:21 GMT -5
I think that for someone trying to survive on minimum wage, especially not full time, saving for everyday emergencies is much more important than saving for retirement. Everyday emergencies take a large chunk of a poor person's income. Old cars tend to have more big repairs. And things like medical copays and parking tickets aren't adjusted for income. A parking ticket can easily snowball into a lost car, a lost job and an eviction if you aren't able to fork over a week's pay on the spot.
Saving for a move to someplace with more opportunity or some kind of career training would be a close second.
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NastyWoman
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Post by NastyWoman on Jan 8, 2017 21:24:57 GMT -5
I think that for someone trying to survive on minimum wage, especially not full time, saving for everyday emergencies is much more important than saving for retirement. Everyday emergencies take a large chunk of a poor person's income. Old cars tend to have more big repairs. And things like medical copays and parking tickets aren't adjusted for income. A parking ticket can easily snowball into a lost car, a lost job and an eviction if you aren't able to fork over a week's pay on the spot. Saving for a move to someplace with more opportunity or some kind of career training would be a close second. I read an article a while back that claimed that in one of the Scandanavian countries (I believe it was Finland but I am not sure) all traffic tickets were linked to income. The thought behind it was that the "pain" for bteaking the law should be similar for everyone. It made some sense to me, but I can just hear the howling over here if that idea were ever even just discussed
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zibazinski
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Post by zibazinski on Jan 8, 2017 22:19:46 GMT -5
No one works for minimum wage their whole lives unless they have a serious problem. My kids first jobs paid over minimum wage for petes sake.
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beergut
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Post by beergut on Jan 8, 2017 23:05:28 GMT -5
No one works for minimum wage their whole lives unless they have a serious problem. My kids first jobs paid over minimum wage for petes sake. Noted. The point is, even if all you ever made was minimum wage,or all you ever saved was minimum wage, you can still retire wealthy.
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zibazinski
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Post by zibazinski on Jan 8, 2017 23:08:06 GMT -5
Sure. If you don't breed like a rabbit or live carefully but everyone feels they're entitled to live like a king on a paupers salary.
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formerroomate99
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Post by formerroomate99 on Jan 9, 2017 0:48:32 GMT -5
I think that for someone trying to survive on minimum wage, especially not full time, saving for everyday emergencies is much more important than saving for retirement. Everyday emergencies take a large chunk of a poor person's income. Old cars tend to have more big repairs. And things like medical copays and parking tickets aren't adjusted for income. A parking ticket can easily snowball into a lost car, a lost job and an eviction if you aren't able to fork over a week's pay on the spot. Saving for a move to someplace with more opportunity or some kind of career training would be a close second. I read an article a while back that claimed that in one of the Scandanavian countries (I believe it was Finland but I am not sure) all traffic tickets were linked to income. The thought behind it was that the "pain" for bteaking the law should be similar for everyone. It made some sense to me, but I can just hear the howling over here if that idea were ever even just discussed In a lot of poor towns, traffic and parking tickets used as a revenue stream. Having tickets tied to income would defeat the purpose. This is one of the legitimate issues that the folks of Northern St Louis County (Ferguson) had.
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Rukh O'Rorke
Senior Associate
Joined: Jul 4, 2016 13:31:15 GMT -5
Posts: 10,288
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Post by Rukh O'Rorke on Jan 9, 2017 14:56:29 GMT -5
Just a note that the existence of a historical entity called a computer, and modern ones: their capabilities are very different.
From a brokerage or mutual fund company perspective, they would price things for a profit. You are all imaging a scenario of people investing sums that wouldn't even pay for the storage of their info on the company's mainframe.
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Deleted
Joined: Oct 7, 2024 21:33:46 GMT -5
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Jan 9, 2017 19:41:50 GMT -5
Most people have no clue how the computer has impacted things and when it started. We were very early adapters by having a computer in about 1996. Even in our very high end neighborhood (President of MSFT lived down the block) I would guess that less than half the homes had a personal computer. I dont think computers really hit the home till about 1999 to 2004 or later for most people. They were crude and unreliable. There was no Google. The search engine of choice was Alta Vista. It was not till after 2000 that average people started to be able to do their investing by computer. How quickly people forget. I remember guys going in to Merrill Lynch at lunch in the early 1980's to check the stock ticker that scrolled in the reception area. As late as 1996 to 1999, I was doing telephone orders when momentum trading by using the phone key pad, punching in the symbol, and using the key pad on the phone to enter my account, prompt buy and sell, etc. COME ON....Google was not even started till the end of 1998. We had computers in my house in the 1980's, computers plural. If you were just getting a computer in your house in 1996, you were a late adapter, not an early adapter. I can remember getting a TI computer in the early 1980's, it had BASIC loaded, and used cartridges for data storage. I'll agree. We got our first computer (Leading Edge so IBM knock-off) in 1985 when I started the PhD program at UA. You had to enter DOS commands, but I loved that computer. I had to shoot it to make it die when I got a divorce in 1998. I totally skipped several generations. We also had the Radio Shack version with the cassette tape back-up. I "wrote" (actually modified) programs on it to help me study for my foreign language exams The latish 1990s were the time of AOL, etc. It is definitely when home computers took off, but it doesn't make you an early adopter no matter how early in the 1990s. We actually took out a $3000 personal loan sponsored by my ex's employer to buy that one in 1985. He had been a programmer in the 1970s. They were encouraging employees like him to jump on the "bandwagon."
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wvugurl26
Distinguished Associate
Joined: Dec 19, 2010 15:25:30 GMT -5
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Post by wvugurl26 on Jan 9, 2017 19:53:05 GMT -5
Yeah. I remember having a Laser 50 in maybe the mid-to-late-'80's. I think I won it as a prize somewhere. The first "real" computer was an XT that my wife brought home from work in about 1991. As I recall it had dual floppies and a 20MB hard drive. Anyone want Windows 3.1 on 3.5" floppies or DOS 5.0 on 5.25"? Or dial-up modems? You know, though, I think we might be a little off-topic with all this.... Maybe it would have been better as its own thread? I had the exact same thought. I lived in very poor WV in the 80's and our elementary school had computers. I distinctly remember playing Oregon Trail by 1985. My middle-class side of the family had a personal computer by 1990 and I remember playing chutes and ladders. We had dial up by 1993 at home on that computer and when I went to college in 1995, I got a personal computer for my dorm as did 100% of the student population (although it wasn't technically required). I went to Virginia Tech and the electronic village had already been established. No dial-up, all ethernet. Southern WV? I didn't know there were others from WV on here.
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gooddecisions
Senior Member
Joined: Dec 22, 2010 13:42:28 GMT -5
Posts: 2,418
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Post by gooddecisions on Jan 9, 2017 20:20:40 GMT -5
I had the exact same thought. I lived in very poor WV in the 80's and our elementary school had computers. I distinctly remember playing Oregon Trail by 1985. My middle-class side of the family had a personal computer by 1990 and I remember playing chutes and ladders. We had dial up by 1993 at home on that computer and when I went to college in 1995, I got a personal computer for my dorm as did 100% of the student population (although it wasn't technically required). I went to Virginia Tech and the electronic village had already been established. No dial-up, all ethernet. Southern WV? I didn't know there were others from WV on here. South Charleston, but I moved away after 6th grade. All my family and extended family are originally from WV, but almost everyone has either died or moved away at this point. I only make it back for funerals for the very few who are left.
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