Domain: blogspot.com
Stories and comments across the archive that link to blogspot.com.
Comments · 20,258
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Re:A better quote
Did someone say celebrity blog?
http://ifuckedanncoulterintheasshard.blogspot.com/ -
Re:Good job, New York Times.
Now they should try cracking the identity of Mini-Microsoft, who describes himself (yes, self-described as a man) as a low-level manager of long tenure still working for Microsoft in Redmond WA.
But maybe, it's someone just a bit different whom the outside world has actually heard of. -
This needs quoting
This is from Fake Steve's blog;
"You put the pieces of the puzzle together. You went through my trash, hacked into my computer, and put listening devices in my home. Now you've ruined the mystery of Fake Steve, robbing thousands of people around the world of their sense of childlike wonder. Hope you feel good about yourself, you mangina." -
John Howard: Prime Minister
A few years ago, a friend directed me to http://johnhoward.blogspot.com/. It's one of the few web pages I've actually laughed out loud at. It's written in a great style.
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Is this April 1st? Some thoughts on ChaChaWait... it's past April 1st... so this might actually be a real story.
ChaCha is a joke, they always direct you to Wikipedia whenever possible (I guess there's worse things), and refuse to answer some questions (I live in Uruguay so they're worthless for me).
My brother had a blog post on ChaCha http://mrhathouse.blogspot.com/2006/12/maybe-not-b rightest-idea-ive-ever.html
so let me quote: " When they can't direct you to the most obviously generic site, they start the trial and error process which consists in linking you to the most random pages hoping one of them contains the information you were looking for.
Not the best use for your time, we all know that Google didn't become a verb by linking people to garbage."
If the IU website is so horrible to search, why not maintain a local search engine for the website only? Also, do they know you can filter Google searches to only include results from a certain webpage? -
Re:A new HIGH for Slashdot
To Patrick Byrne:
Title: Judd Bagley, Director of Communications at Overstock.com, stalks a teenaged blogger
Link here: http://whitecollarfraud.blogspot.com/2007/08/judd- bagley-director-of-communications.html
Respectfully,
Sam E. Antar (former Crazy Eddie CFO & convicted felon) -
Re:Imagined responses to this
He also has longtime ties to racist groups and other far right nut bags. But, it's ok to elect a racist, as long as the white people aren't wire-tapped.
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Advocacy sites to point to PHBs, etc.
Well, you could point to the miriad of countless examples that would demonstrate to your PHBs that switching to MS is NOT what the competition is doing...i.e. they are switching from M$ junk to linux, slowly and steadily. Ask your 'management' if they want to be left holding the bag (and the bills), while the competition races by them...
Here's an example of an advocacy site with links to many examples:
http://cdneducation.blogspot.com/ -
Re:Not hand, mechanical paper counting
I agree. The vote counters and observers form social bonds that make politics go more smoothly. Having machines do this bit of work is a lost opportunity. Make election day a holiday and things will be even better. Smaller precincts are also a plus. Many hands make light work. E lauhoe mai na wa`a; i ke kâ, i ka hoe; i ka hoe, i ke kâ; pae aku i ka `âina.
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Solar power with no installation cost: http://mdsolar.blogspot.com/2007/01/slashdot-users -selling-solar.html -
Re:Jeb Bush Fla.
Sorry, but to prove your loyalty, you need to go past simple 'water carrying' statements and pledge your support for the Republican party, you can find the text here.
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Google's offering.
I wonder if Google will give us a shell on their new Linux phone.
That said it'll be hard for them to beat the Phase 2 OpenMoko for developer fun. -
Re:"Sort-of" Selling Online - Guns and Other Stuff
I'm not a big fan of the notion that free markets can solve all kinds of problems, but one problem they can definitely solve is shitty service. Vendors who annoy their customers have a tendency to go out of business and be replaced by vendors who don't.
Walmart responds: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! -
Re:This is greatUm, the RIAA hasn't been using criminal courts in the US to go after file sharers. So the situation isn't at all analagous. Actually I think it is analogous in one sense.
The RIAA's opening gambit is to get the name and address of the person who paid for an internet access account, and then to sue that person.
In the US it brings fake copyright infringement lawsuits against "John Does", with no intention of prosecuting those cases, but with the sole aim of getting the name and address information. They bring the action hundreds or thousands of miles from where the John Doe lives and could actually fight back, in a court where they could never get jurisdiction over that John Doe, and they bring on the discovery motion ex parte so that the defendant never finds out about until it's too late. (Process described in my article How the RIAA Litigation Process Works). They don't tell the judge it's a fake case. They just pretend it's a regular copyright infringement case, and that this is just some early discovery in the case. Then after the order is signed authorizing them to subpoena the ISP, they drop the sham case.
In Germany they've been using -- up until now -- sham criminal proceedings to accomplish the same result, because in Germany they couldn't have gotten the identity information in a civil case. The German judges and prosecutors have finally realized how they were being used, and have put a stop to it.
It appears that some of the United States judges are starting to catch on as well. -
Re:This is greatUm, the RIAA hasn't been using criminal courts in the US to go after file sharers. So the situation isn't at all analagous. Actually I think it is analogous in one sense.
The RIAA's opening gambit is to get the name and address of the person who paid for an internet access account, and then to sue that person.
In the US it brings fake copyright infringement lawsuits against "John Does", with no intention of prosecuting those cases, but with the sole aim of getting the name and address information. They bring the action hundreds or thousands of miles from where the John Doe lives and could actually fight back, in a court where they could never get jurisdiction over that John Doe, and they bring on the discovery motion ex parte so that the defendant never finds out about until it's too late. (Process described in my article How the RIAA Litigation Process Works). They don't tell the judge it's a fake case. They just pretend it's a regular copyright infringement case, and that this is just some early discovery in the case. Then after the order is signed authorizing them to subpoena the ISP, they drop the sham case.
In Germany they've been using -- up until now -- sham criminal proceedings to accomplish the same result, because in Germany they couldn't have gotten the identity information in a civil case. The German judges and prosecutors have finally realized how they were being used, and have put a stop to it.
It appears that some of the United States judges are starting to catch on as well. -
Re:This is greatUm, the RIAA hasn't been using criminal courts in the US to go after file sharers. So the situation isn't at all analagous. Actually I think it is analogous in one sense.
The RIAA's opening gambit is to get the name and address of the person who paid for an internet access account, and then to sue that person.
In the US it brings fake copyright infringement lawsuits against "John Does", with no intention of prosecuting those cases, but with the sole aim of getting the name and address information. They bring the action hundreds or thousands of miles from where the John Doe lives and could actually fight back, in a court where they could never get jurisdiction over that John Doe, and they bring on the discovery motion ex parte so that the defendant never finds out about until it's too late. (Process described in my article How the RIAA Litigation Process Works). They don't tell the judge it's a fake case. They just pretend it's a regular copyright infringement case, and that this is just some early discovery in the case. Then after the order is signed authorizing them to subpoena the ISP, they drop the sham case.
In Germany they've been using -- up until now -- sham criminal proceedings to accomplish the same result, because in Germany they couldn't have gotten the identity information in a civil case. The German judges and prosecutors have finally realized how they were being used, and have put a stop to it.
It appears that some of the United States judges are starting to catch on as well. -
Just keeping up with the US press...
Who needs Al-Qaeda when we already have Reuters and the New York Times??
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Re:Plasma?
Plasma is indeed there. They haven't replaced kicker with a Plasma-based panel yet, but that part's being worked on; getting the API and libs more or less in shape was the first priority. You can see Plasma in action as it currently stands in the new Run dialog, as well as a small sample of widgets like the dictionary applet. You can also see demos of some of the upcoming stuff in Aaron Seigo's blog.
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Re:Switch!
"Serious question: Dooes anyone know if they ever fixed the problem with the Kylix IDE hanging on the 2.6 kernels? - by Drgnkght (449916) on Thursday August 02, @08:43PM (#20095603)
TRY THIS:
http://techheadaches.blogspot.com/2006/06/kylix-3- open-edition-on-linux-26.html
Kylix 3 Open Edition on a Linux 2.6 Kernel (Debian 3.1)
Categories: Programming, Borland, Delphi
Just a quick note, I tried installing Borland Kylix 3 Open Edition on Debian Linux 3.1 running the 2.6.11 kernel, and it installed fine. After the Kylix installation, typing in startdelphi in the command prompt would return an error message. After searching the net I found the solution to loading Kylix was to edit the startdelphi file and insert this on the very first line of the file:
export LD_ASSUME_KERNEL=2.4.1
After typing that in and saving the file, I now have Borland Kylix 3 Open Edition running great on my Linux box.
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HOWEVER, & afaik? It is dropped by Borland as well, according to the "rumor mill" I have heard tell of.
Too bad, imo, it's one of the better IDE's out there for code development, & I cannot really understand WHY Borland would drop support of it, other than MOST of the folks on LINUX are C/C++ people, afaik... now, iirc, as well? Kylix did not ONLY Pascal/Delphi code, but also C++ Builder (in one IDE).
Tell me more IF you OR anyone knows, or where I may be "off" here (out of date, rather, or just plain misinformed)...
These points "bother" me as well, about MS (2 things recently) lately too:
Will Microsoft Put The Colonel in the Kernel?
"The kernel meets The Colonel in a just-published Microsoft patent application for an Advertising Services Architecture, which delivers targeted advertising as 'part of the OS.' Microsoft, who once teamed with law enforcement to protect consumers from unwanted advertising, goes on to boast that the invention can 'take steps to verify ad consumption,' be used to block ads from competitors, and even sneak a peek at 'user document files, user e-mail files, user music files, downloaded podcasts, computer settings, [and] computer status messages' to deliver more tightly targeted ads."
I don't GET Microsoft lately, I truly don't: The "bypass" of the HOSTS file? Not so bad, because of malware attacks & such subverting the HOSTS file (say, vs. Microsoft Update, for instance), but, it can also pose for 'bad' when coupled with the above too, & what this latest /. thread's about!
&
MS Moves R&D To Canada Due To Immigration Problem
"Microsoft will be opening a new software development center in Vancouver because of difficulties getting workers into the US. The company said the center will 'allow the company to continue to recruit and retain highly skilled people affected by the immigration issues in the US' It seems possible that shrinking immigration quotas have affected America's tax and knowledge base."
We've got PLENTY of great, truly great, coders in the U.S.A.... by the truckload, & MS is out importing cheaper labor, even THOUGH they are #1 out there?
This, to me?? It's pure greed... Balmer's giving me this impression under his leadership @ MS, & he IS "setting the tone" here, turning an OS into an ad-machine apparently, OR trying to!
APK
P.S.=> Ahhh, I just don't know, but I know 1 thing: This "Colonel in the KERNEL" ad framework, bugs me because of the fact MS is #1 out there now, but this makes folks like myself, wonder... & probably will stop me from updating to VISTA if they pull that trick, OR, if some "Windows Update" inserts it without ME wanting it, period! apk -
Is this from a shitty 90's movie?
This dude thinks so:
http://shitsnaz.blogspot.com/2007/07/us-army-gets- robot-idea-from-shitty.html
" 1995, the movie "Evolver" is released to the public. This piece of shit is about a robot that goes crazy and kills people so it can win at laser tag. At one point, the two protagaonists/high school students of the movie break into a military research facility (!) and watch a video about a top-secret government project for a futuristic military robot. It was called project "SWORDS".
The two acronyms and purposes of the robots are plain to see. It's painfully obvious to me that the Army stays up late and flips back and forth between demiporn on Cinemax and the horrible movies on USA. I can only imagine a researcher dropping his can of "Da Beast" to realize that, yes, there *has* to be a project SWORDS and a killer robot." -
Re:No. No. and No.
http://iqbio.blogspot.com/ [blogspot.com] had a blurb on what you claim. Both applications (a door lock and a sensor on a laptop) are crappy.
Spending several thousands of dollars for a door lock and several hundred for a proper access control peripheral would defy mythbuster tests. It also would make bad tv, so you'll never hear about it.
Cheap biometrics just don't work. Yet. -
Re:I sure wish...
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Re:I sure wish...
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I got some facts
http://iqbio.blogspot.com/ had a blurb on what you claim. Both applications (a door lock and a sensor on a laptop) are crappy.
Spending several thousands of dollars for a door lock and several hundred for a proper access control peripheral would defy mythbuster tests. It also would make bad tv, so you'll never hear about it. -
Re:Homeland Security
I should be thankful they're not participating in mass murders... yet.
Oh Yea? Wait a short while.
http://questforfairtrialinconcordnh.blogspot.com/ -
Re:A new HIGH for Slashdot
To Patrick Byrne:
White Collar Fraud Blog: Patrick Byrne, CEO of Overstock.com, Dodges Questions about SEC Subpoenas and Plays Games
Link here: http://whitecollarfraud.blogspot.com/2007/08/patri ck-byrne-ceo-of-overstockcom.html
Respectfully,
Sam E. Antar (former Crazy Eddie CFO & convicted felon) -
Ajax Design Patterns by Michael Mahemoff
I think Mahemoff does an excellent job on "Ajax Design Patterns". He is clearly well schooled in the traditional design patterns of Gamma et al and does an excellent job using a similar spirit vis a vis Ajax. He covers an impressive number of sites, many of whom I would never have heard about if it were not for his diligent research. He has a catalog of the specific patterns he covers such as Ajax App, Ajax Stub, Browser-Side Cache, and Data Grid. However, the actual book is organized in five main areas beginning with a great intro to basic Ajax (the section "Anatomy of a Server Call" is particularly good). After the intro the other areas covered are (1) Foundational Technology Patterns (including web remoting); (2) Programming Patterns, with a great intro to web services and clarity on what qualifies as a Restful service and why it is popular + DOM + code generation; (3) Functionality and Usability Patterns (widgets, page architecture, visual effects, etc); and (4) Development Patterns (diagnosis, testing). He spends a great deal of time discussing the tradeoffs in the performance of Ajax calls and even has a link to a back of the envelope calcs of the latency of ajax calls. It's filled with all sorts of neat Ajax tricks to optimally give the illusion of continuity as the user browses over a large dataset (eg in maps). Lots of technologies are covered in sufficient detail and really anyone with enough interest can understand it. This is just a solid programming/engineering book period. When I read a book like this I am awed at the power of the individual to organize. I would have taken ages to dig up Ajax related stuff here and there (and even in many books I perused), but when I found this book I was like, "Ok, I've found my guide!". You can't go wrong buying this book. At each step he brings attention back to the underlying pattern and when one understands the pattern , one is freed from the details just as the Gamma et al authors intended. So, fellow coders, this may be another book to add next to your desktop coding bibles (Gamma et al, etc...). Enjoy....
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Re:A new HIGH for Slashdot
To Patrick Byrne (CEO of Overstock.com):
White Collar Fraud Blog Item Title: Patrick Byrne (CEO of Overstock.com) Dodges Questions about SEC Subpoenas and Plays Games
http://whitecollarfraud.blogspot.com/2007/08/patri ck-byrne-ceo-of-overstockcom.html
Respectfully,
Sam E. Antar (former Crazy Eddie CFO & convicted felon) -
Re:Zonk = troll
"Person expressing views contrary to my own, or that I percieve are anti-Linux = troll/shill/paid Microsoft astroturfer."
This canard is incredibly old and tired. A person is not a shill or a troll simply because they happen to write something which goes against reality as it exists in your personal bubble. As this so eloquently states, the FUD/troll retort is a very simply means for Linux users to block their ears and avoid being confronted with unpalatable realities.
One of those realities is that Linux, in any remotely mainstream sense, is losing people's attention. People have been hearing about how Linux is going to usurp Windows for 10 years now. A lot of them are becoming deeply sick of it, not only because it consistently fails to happen, but also because Linux's conventional userbase are still as dislikable and insular as they've ever been, if not moreso. The Stallmanite zealots are still on the front page, which in itself has always been the primary millstone around Linux's neck; Eben Moglen threw one of the usual kinds of juvenile, cultic tantrums in front of Tim O'Reilly only a week or so ago.
Whether you want to write it off as trolling or not, it's the simple truth. Linux had its' chance at mainstream success, and blew it. The single main reason is because the FSF were allowed and even encouraged to continue to spout their crap when they should have been summarily cut loose. Contrary to what people might think, the FSF have never truly been good for Linux, and they never will be. -
EROEI - 66
This might be true if you kept a tarp over it for the first 13 years. Panels take 2 years to payback energy. If you are willing to keep using them until their efficiency is degraded to 40% of new (that takes 100 years or more) the the EROEI is 33, higher than just about anything else (air dried firewood is 25 in favorable conditions). If you then recycle panels, the recycled ones have a payback of 1 year since you did not have to refine the silicon. The eventual EROEI approaches 66, beating all other technologies.
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Solar for the future starting now: http://mdsolar.blogspot.com/2007/01/slashdot-users -selling-solar.html -
Re:Duh!
The original comparision was there to say you could power your house AND your car too. It got edited.
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Get solar power that grows with you: http://mdsolar.blogspot.com/2007/01/slashdot-users -selling-solar.html -
discussion is overly focused on techTunnel vision keeps people from seeing the whole picture. but we have not had a stock market run-up like in 1999-2000. So no, the impact of a forthcoming "burst" won't be nearly as bad. In the last 4+ years the U.S. has had something much worse than a stock market run-up: a giant housing bubble. Many regions saw rises of 100% or more in the selling price of a house. This bubble has already peaked, and is now collapsing in slow motion. People bought houses/condos/etc as an 'investment' in the bubble years with the belief that real estate always goes up.
Mike Sheldrake's blog is like a play-by-play tracking the demise of the real estate industry. The action has been fast and furious of late: collapse of two (er, now three) Bear Stearns hedge funds which invested in subprime mortgage debt and the sudden collapse of a non-subprime mortgage lender, American Home Mortgage.
This is more than a 'web 2.0' bubble: this is the final stages of the America bubble. The bubble started with the establishment of the Federal Reserve Bank in 1913, grew through the first and second world wars, Korea, Vietnam, the Cold War, Gulf War I. Gulf War II and the "War of Terror" is the pin that popped the invincible American Military Machine - the military-industrial complex is trying to fight a 4th-generation war with 2nd-generation (superpower vs. superpower) tactics, according to one Iraq veteran.
I'm actually really optomistic about our future. The America Bubble has turned milions of Americans into miserable wage-slaves, or worse. There is an incredible amount of poverty here, in this land of plenty. The present economic restrutcturing is necessary, and so is the eventual politcal house cleaning. I look forward to the day that the Neo-Cons become Neo-Convicts. Hopefully GWB will get frog-hopped out of the whitehouse (that is, with feet and hands cuffed together)... -
discussion is overly focused on techTunnel vision keeps people from seeing the whole picture. but we have not had a stock market run-up like in 1999-2000. So no, the impact of a forthcoming "burst" won't be nearly as bad. In the last 4+ years the U.S. has had something much worse than a stock market run-up: a giant housing bubble. Many regions saw rises of 100% or more in the selling price of a house. This bubble has already peaked, and is now collapsing in slow motion. People bought houses/condos/etc as an 'investment' in the bubble years with the belief that real estate always goes up.
Mike Sheldrake's blog is like a play-by-play tracking the demise of the real estate industry. The action has been fast and furious of late: collapse of two (er, now three) Bear Stearns hedge funds which invested in subprime mortgage debt and the sudden collapse of a non-subprime mortgage lender, American Home Mortgage.
This is more than a 'web 2.0' bubble: this is the final stages of the America bubble. The bubble started with the establishment of the Federal Reserve Bank in 1913, grew through the first and second world wars, Korea, Vietnam, the Cold War, Gulf War I. Gulf War II and the "War of Terror" is the pin that popped the invincible American Military Machine - the military-industrial complex is trying to fight a 4th-generation war with 2nd-generation (superpower vs. superpower) tactics, according to one Iraq veteran.
I'm actually really optomistic about our future. The America Bubble has turned milions of Americans into miserable wage-slaves, or worse. There is an incredible amount of poverty here, in this land of plenty. The present economic restrutcturing is necessary, and so is the eventual politcal house cleaning. I look forward to the day that the Neo-Cons become Neo-Convicts. Hopefully GWB will get frog-hopped out of the whitehouse (that is, with feet and hands cuffed together)... -
Re:feasible
Once you concede that renewables are cheaper than alternatives, then the rest of the economy will also be converting. Aircraft manufacturers are certainly looking at biofuels as aviation fuel now, the energy used to manufacture goods will also be converting. So long as renewables are enhansing prosperity, they'll become a larger and larger part of the energy mix. Economic activity can only hasten the conversion since it leads to more rapid reinvestment. Poverty is more likely to be the lot of those economies that hold back.
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Save money with solar power: http://mdsolar.blogspot.com/2007/01/slashdot-users -selling-solar.html -
Re:Probably a couple of factors...this means that those of us who have that attitude are also able to persue[sic] the expansion and enhancement of our minds This expansion of our minds of which you speak, is it related to the description of yourself on your linked blog:
http://aqpeag.blogspot.com/ I've been playing WoW for close to 12 months; my main is a level 55 Orc Hunter, with way too many alts to mention. Time well spent enhancing your mind my geeky friend. Civilization is richer for your contribution. -
Re:Impossible economics, take 761, action!I thought this estimate for solar thermal to be interesting:
Even without pricing cost externalities, the cost of solar thermal power is going down. Currently, the cost of solar thermal produced energy can be close to 12 cents (US) per k/Wh. However, many economists and investors predict that this price will continuously drop over the next ten years with increased installed capacity, to 6 cents per kW/h, as a result of technological improvements, economies of scale and volume production.
http://www.solel.com/faq/ linked from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nevada_Solar_One.
For states with renewable energy standards, this does not seem all that expensive. There is quite a range in what is paid for electricy at the supply end because spinning reserve is expensive. A peak demand matched profile may well be economical.
High efficency panels (concentrators are built in) are going to have applications where they compete at retail rather than wholesale. We'll know where these particular ones are at in about three years.
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Solar power for what you pay now: http://mdsolar.blogspot.com/2007/01/slashdot-users -selling-solar.html -
Re:Efficiency is less important...
You are correct that looking at the durability of the panels is important. Aten solar sells panels for $3.00/Watt:http://www.ecobusinesslinks.com/solar_
p anels.htm with a 25 year warranty (performance above 80%). So, with a cheapo ground mount (the panels are not very efficient) that you cut yourself from the woods and $1/watt for a 4000 W inverter (corrected to 25 year life) you are looking at $0.03/kWh if you are willing to keep the panels until they degrade to 40% of their original efficiency (100 years; 66 years new equivilent; you need to figure out the smaller and likely cheaper inverters for the last 75 years which might take you up to $0.034/kWh). Oh, and plus gas for the chainsaw. If you are not so cheap, or you figure you won't live that long and don't want to pass on the investment, you are looking at $0.09/kWh bailing after 25 year and just junking the panels (no aftermarket). This assumes and average of 5 h/day peak production equivilent which is typical: http://www.nrel.gov/gis/images/us_pv_annual_may200 4.jpg.
So, if you have the land, you can either match utility rates or substantially undercut them. For rooftop applications $4+/Watt is standard retail for more efficent panels. Now, mounting costs something and you need to consider the reroofing timescale. By cutting out the middleman, we match utility rates with a rental model and can fix the rate for up to 25 years: http://mdsolar.blogspot.com/2007/01/slashdot-users -selling-solar.html. This makes solar power an overall savings rather than a luxury. -
Re:Significant indeed
Yes, I think this shows the usefulness of DARPA's rapid development model. Their phased approach and willingness to tryout high risk ideas seems to be working.
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Solar power with no installation cost: http://mdsolar.blogspot.com/2007/01/slashdot-users -selling-solar.html -
Re:DOJ Doesn't Have to Decide; Case Settled
Sorry, wrong link. Notice that case has been settled is here.
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DOJ Doesn't Have to Decide; Case Settled
As it turns out, Attorney General Gonzalez won't have to decide whether or not to intervene in the case after all.
It appears that the case has been settled. -
Roottop concentrators are being delivered
In fact, roof top concentrators look quite practical: http://www.technologyreview.com/Energy/18718/. I wish the original article had given a diagram of how their system is laidout, but it definitely mentioned rooftop use.
You won't be all that competitive is you are producing 11% efficient solar today. I think perhaps you are thinking that most solar panels already sold have a lower efficiency. One company is selling at $3.00/watt for lower efficency panels as compared with $4.20/watt for most. You have to compete on price to offset the higher installation costs of lower efficeincy panels.
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Solar power you can afford: http://mdsolar.blogspot.com/2007/01/slashdot-users -selling-solar.html -
Re:I think its a major achievement
Nah, I'm not in software development--I couldn't code my way out of a wet paper bag (which is why I use MEPIS). I just read slashdot for the humor. Reading the comments is usually funny: everybody is insulting each other; I just can't figure out why or what about. But I'll let you in on a secret, based on my many years on the corpo-treadmill in QA and (now) as a BA: geeks in real life are easily the most reasonable, balanced, and generous people I've met in corporate America. In fact, I wrote about it at the blog.
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Re:someone convince my local government
Depending on where you live, there may be such a law. Look at the access laws column in this table: http://www.dsireusa.org/summarytables/reg1.cfm?&C
u rrentPageID=7&EE=1&RE=1. Everyone should be supporting the SOLAR access legislation now in Congress: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/65431047 0
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Simple solar power: http://mdsolar.blogspot.com/2007/01/slashdot-users -selling-solar.html -
Re:How much power?
Hey Greg! That is true on orbit. The solar constant is taken at the top of the Earth's atmopshere but by the time it gets to the ground you get about 1 kW/m^2 when it is clear. This map gives average anual per day energy adjusted for clouds and such in kWh/m^2:http://www.nrel.gov/gis/images/us_pv_annu
a l_may2004.jpg. This map is for tilted panels. Tracking concentrators have a somewhat different behavior, doing better in the southwest and, surprisingly, worse in New York:http://www.nrel.gov/gis/images/us_csp_annual_ may2004.jpg. Panels are less sensitive to clouds and haze. For panels, 5 kWh/m^2/day is a typical value which you then multiply by the panel efficiency. Note that Northeast Alaska is a pretty good place for tracking concentrators. Tracking panels might do even better; they'd have to spin 360 though.
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Solar power without the spin:http://mdsolar.blogspot.com/2007/01/slashdot- users-selling-solar.html -
Why the comparison is there
The article was editied. I made the comparison to point out that this leaves roof area for charging a plug-in hybrid. Under most net metering laws you don't want to generate more power than you use because, after a year, the utility just confiscates the extra power, paying you nothing for it. Most home roofs have enough surface area to handle the power used by the building but it can be a tight fit. Adding in charging a car could mean drawing more from the utility, possibly at a higher price than today's electricity. So, developing the option to get more power from less area enables powering transportation as well as the home in most cases. To be fair, kdawson did add in the 17% number which I had left vauge. It is actually system efficiency that stands near 17%, panel efficiencies are a bit higher (about 19%).
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Get solar power that matches your changing use of electricity:http://mdsolar.blogspot.com/2007/01/sl ashdot-users-selling-solar.html -
Being done in New Mexico
I razzed New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson on my blog yesterday saying he is trying to keep the southerneastern US off solar so he can build a huge New Mexican Solar Power Monopoly to supply them: http://mdsolar.blogspot.com/2007/07/new-mexicans-
c onspire.html(tinfoil hat warning). One of the projects linked there aims to do just this, havesting the heat generated at the panels for building heating. Engulf and Devour, that's his motto.
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Register your home for solar power; fixed competitive rates for up to 25 years: http://mdsolar.blogspot.com/2007/01/slashdot-users -selling-solar.html -
Being done in New Mexico
I razzed New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson on my blog yesterday saying he is trying to keep the southerneastern US off solar so he can build a huge New Mexican Solar Power Monopoly to supply them: http://mdsolar.blogspot.com/2007/07/new-mexicans-
c onspire.html(tinfoil hat warning). One of the projects linked there aims to do just this, havesting the heat generated at the panels for building heating. Engulf and Devour, that's his motto.
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Register your home for solar power; fixed competitive rates for up to 25 years: http://mdsolar.blogspot.com/2007/01/slashdot-users -selling-solar.html -
Yes it does
and Eric's been running Plan 9 From Bell Labs and Inferno on the one he has access to at IBM.
http://graverobbers.blogspot.com/ -
Incumbent blocking premium and dilution discount
Google did a nice job of explaining how the whole spectrum auction works, what advantages and disadvantages incumbents and new entrants face, and how the incumbents will pay a "blocking premium" to keep others from winning the auction which removes a lot of bidders from the get-go causing a "dilution discount" which makes the spectrum cheaper in the long run (thus the reason Google said they would ante up at least the minimum acceptable bid proposed by the FCC - it adds a floor to the dilution discount side). You can find this explanation on their Policy Blog at http://googlepublicpolicy.blogspot.com/2007/07/re
s toring-competitive-balance-to.html -
Re:Burden in counterclaim?The only argument that I can think of that goes in his favor is an argument concerning the "equal protection under the law" clause whereby he would argue that he is unfairly being singled out for a higher amount than would usually be demanded of any other defendant in a similar situation due to some factor which is external to the matter at hand. The defense is based on the due process clause, not the equal protection clause. See second paragraph here.
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Re:Any consensus?most people still don't have HD.
That is changing very rapidly.
30% of American households have HDTV.
44% of these households receive HD programming.
The "home theater" movie and gaming experience can be more important to buyers than HD programming>it's easy to forget that this will often be a buyer's first experience with large screen, wide screen, projection, flat panel displays,etc.
>which is good news in the long run for Sony and Blu-Ray.2/3 get their HD programming by cable TV. 1/4-1/3 by satellite.