When the researchers themselves are packing it in despite the increasing availability of funding for alternative energy research, it's all over.
The places where hydrogen is viable are the ones where there's plenty of cheap "green" energy... like Iceland. The US is not one of those places. Ethanol isn't going to replace all the gasoline we use, either, no matter how many agribusinesses want to make it so. There isn't enough farmland. The Brazillians can make it work because their climate and soil favor sugar cane in a way that ours doesn't and because there aren't as many of them or as many motor vehicles.
The main use that hydrogen has for the rest of us is a "desperately needs a clue" detector... anyone who talks about "the hydrogen economy of the future" can automatically be pigeonholed as being full of shit. Let this be a lesson to you with respect to who you ought to be listening to about "green" energy.
This isn't to say that Kunstler's babbling bullshit about "there is NO alternative energy future" is true, either. The most interesting research I know of is algae biomass > biodiesel, which already has a couple or three VC-funded efforts going on.
on my tech journalism pieces since 1987. In general, one doesn't get a choice of editors, it's a luck of the draw sort of thing. I've had editors I hope to hire should I decide to do a book project, I've had OK editors, I've had one really bad one.
I have no reason to believe that it's any different in the field of book publishing, at least for writers without the market clout to demand specific editors, you get whoever gets assigned to you and try to make the best of it.
If anything, the self-publishing route gives one more choice with respect to editors. Plus, of course, there's no question in anybody's mind as to who that editor is working for.
I didn't say that one should simply pay the first editor who comes along who offers a rate for editing a book, one should check references and work samples where possible and discuss exactly what's needed and what the editor can do with that editor, it's just like the process for hiring any other kind of consultant.
Note on the last link, it's from a DLC affiliate site and obviously written by somebody who doesn't know who underwrites his paychecks.
As for "one of the problems with the progressive agenda is that they have no idea where the center is"...
let's see. Based on polls for the American people and public statements of DLCers:
The DLC may indeed be in the center, but of the Republican party.
Iraq War? DLC in favor, the American people opposed.
National Health Care? DLC opposed, American people in favor.
Offshoring? DLC in favor, American people opposed.
What you're telling us that you'd be happy to vote for Democrats who are slightly less flamboyant about espousing right-wing beliefs publically exposed as insanity than the Republicans you're now embarrassed to be associated with, but that you don't want anything fundamentally changed.
I think you've got exactly the Republicans you deserve representing you.
Does this apply to almost every other manufacturer of consumer electronics? Are they also denied "free passes" when batteries explode? Because its a hell of a lot more common than many posters seem to think.
1. Yes.
2. Yes.
3. That was my point.
I am not a chemistry major, but I don't see how its possible to store energy without the possibility of that energy being released in an uncontrolled manner.
The batteries have to be better designed to fail safely instead of spectacularly. Whether this is done via engineering design or finding new methods for electrical storage is a matter for the industry to figure out, because the current situation is likely to get somebody sued out of existence sooner or later.
Dropping is part of the ordinary environment of a laptop. While one doesn't necessarily expect it to work afterwards, a reasonable person wouldn't expect one to spontaneously combust in a life-threatening sort of way afterwards, either. So there's no reason to give Dell a free pass because "it might have been dropped". Even if it had been, it shouldn't have blown up.
I suspect that the problem is that the lithium-ion technology is inherently unstable and should not be put in consumer gear.
(contemplating the 2 Li-ion powered devices I usually carry)
The sooner CNT supercaps or fuel cells are available to provide this kind of energy density without having to worry about it blowing up, the better.
Mainstream publishers have these services because they pay people to provide them. If you have a book in mind and you want these services, buy them yourself.
Any online publication service will be happy to sell editing and proofing services to you at extra charge, or line up your own.
If you want to buy marketing services, google.
With respect to marketing as provided by publishers, it's my understanding based on what experienced professionals have said (I have plenty of experience with selling tech articles for online and print publication, I haven't gotten around to books yet) that if you're unknown in the book market, other than getting press releases on your new book out to various library/bookseller oriented publications and similar routine activities, unless you're the semi-legendary exception to the rule and your MS gets pulled out of the slush pile and droolingly ecstatic editors make the case to the suits for instant rockstar treatment and a six-figure advance, marketing is basically your problem whether you're self-publishing through a service like lulu or iUniverse or getting published by Simon & Schuster.
In any case, more than one book has gone from self-published POD books to the best-seller list via major publishers.
For everybody else... I'm surprised nobody has mentioned that the OpenSource Scribus DTP program will export directly to PDF format.
I'd like to be able to go to a RIAA label website and be able to buy an on-demand CD of anything ever published by that label... Edison wax recordings, 13th Floor Elevator... name your favorite band that's out of print...
Easier, cheaper, and a lot faster than trying to find it in used/collectible, and in general, the only way any record company will ever make money off their content "in the vaults".
Of course, since this is rational, it isn't going to get done until consumer electronics companies start buying up major labels and look at their content as a way to make money instead of something to "stop pirates from getting into".
Then, there's film/video. Wouldn't it be nice to be able to get a DVD burned of... anything?
There should be no such thing as "backlist - not available" in an age where all usable content regardless of media type is digital.
So having CALEA backdoors built into US networking gear and software is going to help our sales in foriegn markets how?
Judging from Bush's sub-30 standing in the polls, even Americans (other than you) are disinclined to trust him. You expect foriegners to be more trusting?
Tearing apart a player, getting every part number off it, and pricing these parts in standard vendor catalogues isn't difficult, it's just tedious.
However, it makes a big difference if the "per unit" cost is based on 1-100 , 1000-9999 , 10K-99K, or "ask for vendor quote" volume categories. The cost of producing that report would have gone up a hell of a lot if the analyst checked with the vendors on even the big-ticket ICs, let alone every part of the unit.
This kind of energy storage technology may make the energy-based weapons which are a staple of science fiction practical/off the shelf.
Not that I don't like your mental image.
they're concerned that the kids might tell the unvarnished truth in public about the food, or more seriously, about abusive counselors or administrators.
it's because they aren't complete idiots. I think the hotmail backend processing is still on Linux boxes, too, making them among the world's biggest corporate Linux users.
You have presumably read the MS development blogger who describes both a dysfunctional management process and a dysfunctional Vista architecture, and that downthread comment by that other guy who describes Vista's goals... which sound to me like the collective egos of MS's development staff have been pulverized for so long by Apple and Open Source developers that they intend to create the ultimate uber-OS that's intended to crush the entire rest of the world. All that and legacy compatibility, too. [chortle]
Given those factors, it's amazing that they've even gotten to a beta with $5 billion. . . but anyone who'd trust it for critical work is at best, of questionable sanity.
If the new management has the guts to shitcan the Vista project as a whole, look for a good proprietary *nix OS to buy and run a virtualized XP over it to handle legacy apps and port their major apps to their *nix and work on their advanced technological goals module by module, they might actually have a usable and secure product to ship in a couple of years... and a great one a couple of years later.
Apple showed the world how to do this, it's ego that's prevented MS from following that "Road Ahead".
Given the odds on that, major stockholders not working at MS probably should quietly start bailing out NOW. When MS's ex-senior management joins the rush to the exits, it'll be all over.
Apple survived Copland blowing up the same way because of a fanatic following and because they had a lot less money into development. There are only a handful of MS fanboys. . . and a rest of the world who uses Windows because they don't know any better, but there's no loyalty there.
It's installed by the vendor and the user buys it as part of the original purchase. Most home users aren't up to doing their own OS installs. By the time it's upgrade time, unless they've upgraded them, which means they're out of the "most" category, their machine is probably inadequate for the next-gen OS... and at this point, they've got a whole lot of legacy Windows software.
I doubt that this is all that uncommon among free-lance writers. If all an employer has to know about you is what kind of content you can supply, and you've been around long enough to have a batch of article clips to point editors at to see what one's work product looks like, the only relationship one has to have with an employer is... article assignment, send article in by deadline, (eventually) get paid. One either provides one's own motivation or gets the hell out of the business.
Actually, the biggest change technology has made here is... one ships electrons instead of paper. The first few articles I wrote I sent to editors via snailmail.
Though I was telecommuting to an engineering gig before that... I woke up one day (1985, I think) and realized my MacPlus was essentially identical to the office systems and so was my CAD software (this was the early days of ECAD on Mac... I was a beta site for one of the first vendors), why was I commuting? So instead of uploading to the LAN, I was uploading to the office BBS setup with my new 1200 baud modem.
My first virtual company experiment was shortly thereafter.
I suspect that there would be some very, very happy stockholders at MS if they actually built one with your proposed laws.
1. A robot may not harm the Microsoft Company, or, through inaction, allow the Microsoft Company to come to harm.
2. A robot may not harm a Microsoft Executive, or, through inaction, allow a Microsoft Executive to come to harm, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
You know that means that the first Micro$lothbot they build with these laws in place will immediately head for where the C-level people hang out and go lethally berserk, then go for the technical management, right?
I think a law saying "A robot must set up a webcam and connect it to an available server, then announce the URL on slashdot before committing any acts of violence against a Microsoft Executive".
I've been writing IT articles since 1987. In those 19 years, I've visited my publisher's office exactly once and I've met exactly one of the editors I've worked for.
being on the receiving end of a spamhaus complaint is immoral conduct. You think spamhaus is perfect? You're in a pretty small minority. While they are very, very good, given how blacklists are put together, nobody in the domain registration business should depend on them for the purpose of deciding whether or not to deliver the services customers pay them for.
However, I agree with you that if godaddy shuts down your website down for actions you had absolutely nothing to do with or for any other reason, that you should pay the $200 to persuade them to turn it back on. But I don't think anyone else should have that problem.
Digging through the hundreds of domain registrars unassisted wasn't a job I was exactly looking forward to, and the best kind of recommendation is that from happy customers.
"SPAMMERS MUST DIE -- END JUSTIFIES MEANS!!111" crowd. . . I am also not interested in being part of the "collateral damage" because some spambot decided to forge one of my domain names or associated IP addresses to the spam it's dumping into the Net.
I agree completely that blacklists should be used to score spam, not block it, I can't afford to have mail from my editors (I write Linux tutorials for money at this point) falling prey to the false positives even the best of blacklists are subject to.
So I'm suddenly a dissatisfied godaddy customer. If they don't understand why blacklists should NOT be used for domain name blocking at the registrar level, I can't believe that they have the technical competence to handle the job I'm paying them for.
You support Godaddy shutting down domains that are inadvertently associated with spam due to actions unconnected to people who bought domains in good faith from them or a downstream provider unless they're yours.
This isn't the equivalent of a property owner evicting a tenant for drug violations, this is the equivalent of a property owner evicting every tenant in one of his buildings because one tenant is dealing drugs.
Anti-China content is illegal in China. If you put or your users some on your.com domain web server, you should have no objection to godaddy blocking your domain and making it impossible for you to move it.
It's godaddy using spamhaus for purposes no sane person would believe is a good idea. AFAIK, there's no way a domain service provider can check in advance whether or not any given domain name applicant is or is not a spammer, anyone on the ROKSO list can use a fake business name in order to get a domain.
Gaming what godaddy's doing to unjustly shut down a domain (or in this case, 1399 domains) is just too easy.
Imagine having a legitimate website and having it shut down because godaddy has shut down your domain service provider. There are probably several hundred Russians in that position right now.
Slashdot Mirror
When the researchers themselves are packing it in despite the increasing availability of funding for alternative energy research, it's all over.
The places where hydrogen is viable are the ones where there's plenty of cheap "green" energy... like Iceland. The US is not one of those places. Ethanol isn't going to replace all the gasoline we use, either, no matter how many agribusinesses want to make it so. There isn't enough farmland. The Brazillians can make it work because their climate and soil favor sugar cane in a way that ours doesn't and because there aren't as many of them or as many motor vehicles.
The main use that hydrogen has for the rest of us is a "desperately needs a clue" detector... anyone who talks about "the hydrogen economy of the future" can automatically be pigeonholed as being full of shit. Let this be a lesson to you with respect to who you ought to be listening to about "green" energy.
This isn't to say that Kunstler's babbling bullshit about "there is NO alternative energy future" is true, either. The most interesting research I know of is algae biomass > biodiesel, which already has a couple or three VC-funded efforts going on.
I have no reason to believe that it's any different in the field of book publishing, at least for writers without the market clout to demand specific editors, you get whoever gets assigned to you and try to make the best of it.
If anything, the self-publishing route gives one more choice with respect to editors. Plus, of course, there's no question in anybody's mind as to who that editor is working for.
I didn't say that one should simply pay the first editor who comes along who offers a rate for editing a book, one should check references and work samples where possible and discuss exactly what's needed and what the editor can do with that editor, it's just like the process for hiring any other kind of consultant.
Note on the last link, it's from a DLC affiliate site and obviously written by somebody who doesn't know who underwrites his paychecks.
As for "one of the problems with the progressive agenda is that they have no idea where the center is"... let's see. Based on polls for the American people and public statements of DLCers:
I think you've got exactly the Republicans you deserve representing you.
I suspect that the problem is that the lithium-ion technology is inherently unstable and should not be put in consumer gear.
(contemplating the 2 Li-ion powered devices I usually carry)
The sooner CNT supercaps or fuel cells are available to provide this kind of energy density without having to worry about it blowing up, the better.
The author is obviously joking. Only a drooling tard with neofascistic tendencies could seriously make these statements in a public forum.
Any online publication service will be happy to sell editing and proofing services to you at extra charge, or line up your own.
If you want to buy marketing services, google.
With respect to marketing as provided by publishers, it's my understanding based on what experienced professionals have said (I have plenty of experience with selling tech articles for online and print publication, I haven't gotten around to books yet) that if you're unknown in the book market, other than getting press releases on your new book out to various library/bookseller oriented publications and similar routine activities, unless you're the semi-legendary exception to the rule and your MS gets pulled out of the slush pile and droolingly ecstatic editors make the case to the suits for instant rockstar treatment and a six-figure advance, marketing is basically your problem whether you're self-publishing through a service like lulu or iUniverse or getting published by Simon & Schuster.
In any case, more than one book has gone from self-published POD books to the best-seller list via major publishers.
For everybody else... I'm surprised nobody has mentioned that the OpenSource Scribus DTP program will export directly to PDF format.
Easier, cheaper, and a lot faster than trying to find it in used/collectible, and in general, the only way any record company will ever make money off their content "in the vaults".
Of course, since this is rational, it isn't going to get done until consumer electronics companies start buying up major labels and look at their content as a way to make money instead of something to "stop pirates from getting into".
Then, there's film/video. Wouldn't it be nice to be able to get a DVD burned of ... anything?
There should be no such thing as "backlist - not available" in an age where all usable content regardless of media type is digital.
Judging from Bush's sub-30 standing in the polls, even Americans (other than you) are disinclined to trust him. You expect foriegners to be more trusting?
However, it makes a big difference if the "per unit" cost is based on 1-100 , 1000-9999 , 10K-99K, or "ask for vendor quote" volume categories. The cost of producing that report would have gone up a hell of a lot if the analyst checked with the vendors on even the big-ticket ICs, let alone every part of the unit.
This kind of energy storage technology may make the energy-based weapons which are a staple of science fiction practical/off the shelf. Not that I don't like your mental image.
they're concerned that the kids might tell the unvarnished truth in public about the food, or more seriously, about abusive counselors or administrators.
it's because they aren't complete idiots. I think the hotmail backend processing is still on Linux boxes, too, making them among the world's biggest corporate Linux users.
Given those factors, it's amazing that they've even gotten to a beta with $5 billion. . . but anyone who'd trust it for critical work is at best, of questionable sanity.
If the new management has the guts to shitcan the Vista project as a whole, look for a good proprietary *nix OS to buy and run a virtualized XP over it to handle legacy apps and port their major apps to their *nix and work on their advanced technological goals module by module, they might actually have a usable and secure product to ship in a couple of years... and a great one a couple of years later.
Apple showed the world how to do this, it's ego that's prevented MS from following that "Road Ahead".
Given the odds on that, major stockholders not working at MS probably should quietly start bailing out NOW. When MS's ex-senior management joins the rush to the exits, it'll be all over.
Apple survived Copland blowing up the same way because of a fanatic following and because they had a lot less money into development. There are only a handful of MS fanboys. . . and a rest of the world who uses Windows because they don't know any better, but there's no loyalty there.
It's installed by the vendor and the user buys it as part of the original purchase. Most home users aren't up to doing their own OS installs. By the time it's upgrade time, unless they've upgraded them, which means they're out of the "most" category, their machine is probably inadequate for the next-gen OS... and at this point, they've got a whole lot of legacy Windows software.
Actually, the biggest change technology has made here is... one ships electrons instead of paper. The first few articles I wrote I sent to editors via snailmail.
Though I was telecommuting to an engineering gig before that... I woke up one day (1985, I think) and realized my MacPlus was essentially identical to the office systems and so was my CAD software (this was the early days of ECAD on Mac... I was a beta site for one of the first vendors), why was I commuting? So instead of uploading to the LAN, I was uploading to the office BBS setup with my new 1200 baud modem.
My first virtual company experiment was shortly thereafter.
You know that means that the first Micro$lothbot they build with these laws in place will immediately head for where the C-level people hang out and go lethally berserk, then go for the technical management, right?
I think a law saying "A robot must set up a webcam and connect it to an available server, then announce the URL on slashdot before committing any acts of violence against a Microsoft Executive".
I've been writing IT articles since 1987. In those 19 years, I've visited my publisher's office exactly once and I've met exactly one of the editors I've worked for.
However, I agree with you that if godaddy shuts down your website down for actions you had absolutely nothing to do with or for any other reason, that you should pay the $200 to persuade them to turn it back on. But I don't think anyone else should have that problem.
Digging through the hundreds of domain registrars unassisted wasn't a job I was exactly looking forward to, and the best kind of recommendation is that from happy customers.
I agree completely that blacklists should be used to score spam, not block it, I can't afford to have mail from my editors (I write Linux tutorials for money at this point) falling prey to the false positives even the best of blacklists are subject to.
So I'm suddenly a dissatisfied godaddy customer. If they don't understand why blacklists should NOT be used for domain name blocking at the registrar level, I can't believe that they have the technical competence to handle the job I'm paying them for.
This isn't the equivalent of a property owner evicting a tenant for drug violations, this is the equivalent of a property owner evicting every tenant in one of his buildings because one tenant is dealing drugs.
Anti-China content is illegal in China. If you put or your users some on your .com domain web server, you should have no objection to godaddy blocking your domain and making it impossible for you to move it.
Gaming what godaddy's doing to unjustly shut down a domain (or in this case, 1399 domains) is just too easy.
Imagine having a legitimate website and having it shut down because godaddy has shut down your domain service provider. There are probably several hundred Russians in that position right now.