Re: What HASN'T broken this week?

G. Paul Ziemba <paul+usenet@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
mroberds@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx writes:

Is it a real hardware store?

I think Orchard Supply Hardware was a real hardware store at one time,
but they have been gradually migrating away from that heritage. A real
hardware store might have a section called "bearings." This one has a
section called "hard to find."

A real hardware store has semi-related products grouped in the same area
of the store. The index is stored in the brains of the people that work
there, who can usually return an answer to queries in O(1) time, or at
worst, O(log n) time. If the answer is null, then it works a bit like
QAF. That person, if he is not authoritative for that query, will
automatically query someone who is. If you get a null answer from the
authoritative person, he will then give you a pointer to one or more
other suppliers that do have the desired item. Sometimes their ability
to provide correct pointers is more valuable than their ability to supply
the item from their own store.

Another mark of a real hardware store is that when you go up to the cash
register with an assortment of small parts in your hand, you can tell
the cashier, "five at seven cents, five at ten cents, ten at seventeen
cents" and he rings that up. He does not need to scan a bar code
sticker on each washer, nor does he need to match your items to a
picture in a book and scan a bar code out of the book.

uggc://zqzrgevp.pbz/oohfu.ugz

Lotsa cool stuff there; bookmarked.

Along those lines, uggc://jjj.ynen.pbz/erivrjf/fperjglcrf.ugz is also
handy, but remember:

With a Dremel tool and a cut-off wheel, _everything_ takes a flat-blade
screwdriver.

Matt Roberds

.