If only there was a place you could go to buy goods at your convenience precisely when needed, avoiding the shipping step... That would be amazing!

Yes, "a bit inconvenienced" is how that scenario would be described, since we are talking about a Christmas present and not a meal. May all your inconveniences remain small and related to consumerism, not subsistence.

OnePlus has historically been a DISASTER for updates.

One: Abandoned Cyanogen business relationship, in parallel released test Oxygen released, also abandoned
Two: Promised upgrade to Nougat, never happened
X: Abandonware
3/3T: Getting Oreo "eventually", still in beta. Shipped with Marshmallow way into the Nougat release cycle, took nearly a year beyond that to get Nougat.

Only get a OnePlus phone if you are comfortable with and intend on running a custom ROM, and also hope the hardware is defect free because their customer support is atrocious as is their software quality despite being close to AOSP.

Why would you rent for $15 when you can buy for $75?

And disavowing one because of age when not unprecedented is to boldly proclaim your purposefully ignorant attitude.

It's almost like companies can have different functions being tackled by different teams.

Except you don't have to shop at Wal-Mart at all. If you are so poor that you can only afford shoes made in China from Wal-Mart, you can shop at Goodwill instead.

If you choose to buy things made in China when there is a made in America option, you are a part of the problem you lament if that problem is "why aren't things made here anymore" or "why aren't there jobs for making things here anymore".

So....natural eugenics?

The telecom industry of the past 30 years provides a dissenting view.

I have nearly tripled my income in 3 years and making a concerted effort to build my network on LinkedIn played a big role in that. It is less crucial to me now, and the level of utility is VERY industry-specific (I'd even argue "niche-specific"), but if you put effort into it and match up well with the expertise recruiters are looking for, it's unmatched as a recruiting platform...I never got the kind of interest on Monster or Career Builder, etc. that I had and continue to get through LinkedIn.

"They" CAN'T make clean coal, or maybe that's the joke.

The terms of an auto loan are to pay x number of dollars each month for a certain number of years. If that's too difficult to understand, you shouldn't be driving.

For god's sake, "penultimate" does not equate to "a way to say 'last' that makes me sound smarter". The opposite, actually.

What does Oracle do that is both 1) good or great, and 2) not database? I was a part of an acquisition and worked for Oracle 4 months before jumping ship. What I saw was a wasteland of half-baked integration work on their acquisitions, and abandoned products, often multiple in the same area, and a strong streak of anti-"wasn't acquired or made here" syndrome. I've heard nothing but contempt for Oracle's consultants which is why everyone I dealt with outside my org worked with third party implementation, support, and often hosting. The pay was crap, no bonuses, no raises, no opportunity for promotion or transfer, and my department's director even rejected any training, even the Oracle University stuff. I just don't see why anyone works with or for Oracle in 2014.