>But dosent "scratch resistant" mean "Incredibly hard to fix once it has been scratched"?
It probably means that it gets replaced, not repaired. That's another upside for the auto manufacturers: If a metal fender costs $1 to make and $1 to paint, they can charge $2 for the plastic, bolt-on piece. They've just doubled their parts revenue.
>This is the thing I've always wondered. Rememeber every time broadband and the RIAA is >discussed on Slashdot. There's that group that *assumes* that Musicians will make their living >and pay off bills from whatever money comes in from fans downloading, and concerts.
It's not much of a stretch. That's actually how it works now, and how it's worked...well, forever.
Very few musicians actually make their living from recorded music anyway. For every one of them getting a large enough royalty check to pay the rent, there are hundreds slogging it out in clubs and sessions.
> However I can't help but wonder when this "utopia" is implimented, how many musicians > will end up with beans, and couch.
End up? That's where a vast majority of them already are. If you think "average artist" means Metallica or Janis Ian or anyone else you've heard of, you're committing a gross sampling error.:)
> Finding out that "starving artist" is still true, and "charityware", like the real thing only > works for a few, and the majority suffer. A social experiment with real consequences, > suggested by those who don't have to suffer the immediate consequences.
Again, sampling error.
Most working musicians are playing other people's music. Charityware - or any other structure for selling recordings - isn't going to do anything for them, because they have no original music.
For the segment that is creating original music, the technology has a lot of promise. The equipment exists to record a quality demo in an apartment, and distributing it to a large audience is relatively simple.
That sounds good, but there's a problem: Most working musicians aren't geeks. They might have a computer for email and web browsing, but they have no idea how to publish their material. They're selling CDs at shows and hoping for a record contract; Going it alone isn't even on their radar screens.
> A job with non-easily lifted expertise (your consultancy) will still be the way to go, for > those who don't wish to be the guinea pigs in other people's "experiments".
I don't know if that has much to do with it. Artists are a strange bunch. They don't appear to mind living with five other guys in a studio apartment, eating Ramen six days a week. They're ready to whore themselves to a record company at the drop of a hat; If there's a chance to "make it" via another path, I seriously doubt they'll turn it down.
> I am "successful" in my career. But I've found my day job unfulfilling for years, and as a >musician I often wonder if I should follow my heart elsewhere.
Let me offer you the other side of the coin.
I was a musician since I was a little kid. I have a music degree from a big-name private music school. Playing was, and is, something that I very much enjoy.
I've also programmed as a hobby since I was a kid, since starting out on a Trash-80. Computers were something that interested me, but I never considered making a career out of it.
In 1996, I was a year out of college. I was living on a friend's couch, and eating cold cereal and canned beans three meals a day. I had *no* money, and no real prospects for making any.
A friend of a friend of a friend was running a porn site, and the business had grown to the point where he needed help. He offered me a job, part time, sorting pictures and answering customer email. Over time, I learned html, then perl, then server administration, blah blah blah.
Fast-forward seven years. I run my own consultancy. I work in my bathrobe most days. I eat cold cereal and canned beans (sometimes) because I happen to like them, not because this week's food budget is $4. I still play, but only for fun. Life is good.
Art is great, but be prepared to be a pauper if you're going to try to make a living at it. If you can deal with complete and utter poverty, go for it. For me, it just wasn't worth it.
Although a knee jerk reaction is to express distaste for this decision, perhaps we should consider it in more depth. Like it or not, 'Acme Axe Manufacturers' and its work, the Acme Super Chopper, does aid axe murders.
Yes, that's not why they were created and there are legit uses, but many axe murders do use them to split the skulls of busty coeds on holidays at remote cabins. Is this necessarily what we want? If axe murders are using the Acme Super Chopper to commit crimes, isn't everyone who owns an axe just as guilty, blahda blahda?
Additionally, while this is not a popular idea around here, isn't it the companies right to decide that they only want their axes to be used on wood? I don't see anyone saying that people should be allowed to chop metal, plastic, or bales of hay into smaller pieces, so why should wood be different?
I've never noticed that about ours, but we have a server monkey that presses any buttons that need pressing. Perhaps it's happening, and I've never heard about it.
They're called buckling spring keyboards. They kick all kinds of ass. They'll last forever, you can clean them in the dishwasher, and they're heavy enough to club an intruder with.
PCKeyboard sells new ones, but you can regularly find used ones at computer shows and flea markets.
PCKeyboard also sells the same keyboard with a trackpoint. It's handy, but the keyboard invariably lasts far, far longer than the trackpoint.
You're forgetting about shipping costs, like I said. You can probably buy the plain 'o beige-and-velcro within four minutes of your home, instead of sending away for it. You can also probably find a it cheaper than $20.
You can buy a straight razor here, as well as a bunch of other places, including the knife place at the mall.
You'll also need a strop, a badger bristle brush, and a good glycerin shaving soap. You'll eventually need a stone, too, but not right away.
Most barbers over 50 or 60 will know how to use a straight razor, and can be convinced to show you how to use it. There are also tutorials on the web, such as this one.
The structure spins around, but the entrance is in the tail? If I go out to get the paper on a windy day, will I be stuck chasing my front door around for the following two hours?
A whole 727, probably up around 100,000 pounds stripped, on a 4' column?
I think I'll hold out, and make an offer on the second one.
>I can cover a lot of teenagers on my list with this one
Be careful there. A fifteen year old today was born in 1987, ten years after the 2600 was released. Unless the teenagers on your list are unsusally geeky, they've probably never even heard of the 2600, and they'll think your a odd old coot for getting this for them.
There are the same people that don't get references like "Look like I picked the wrong day to quit sniffing glue."
Slashdot Mirror
>But dosent "scratch resistant" mean "Incredibly hard to fix once it has been scratched"?
It probably means that it gets replaced, not repaired. That's another upside for the auto manufacturers: If a metal fender costs $1 to make and $1 to paint, they can charge $2 for the plastic, bolt-on piece. They've just doubled their parts revenue.
>This is the thing I've always wondered. Rememeber every time broadband and the RIAA is
:)
>discussed on Slashdot. There's that group that *assumes* that Musicians will make their living
>and pay off bills from whatever money comes in from fans downloading, and concerts.
It's not much of a stretch. That's actually how it works now, and how it's worked...well, forever.
Very few musicians actually make their living from recorded music anyway. For every one of them getting a large enough royalty check to pay the rent, there are hundreds slogging it out in clubs and sessions.
> However I can't help but wonder when this "utopia" is implimented, how many musicians
> will end up with beans, and couch.
End up? That's where a vast majority of them already are. If you think "average artist" means Metallica or Janis Ian or anyone else you've heard of, you're committing a gross sampling error.
> Finding out that "starving artist" is still true, and "charityware", like the real thing only
> works for a few, and the majority suffer. A social experiment with real consequences,
> suggested by those who don't have to suffer the immediate consequences.
Again, sampling error.
Most working musicians are playing other people's music. Charityware - or any other structure for selling recordings - isn't going to do anything for them, because they have no original music.
For the segment that is creating original music, the technology has a lot of promise. The equipment exists to record a quality demo in an apartment, and distributing it to a large audience is relatively simple.
That sounds good, but there's a problem: Most working musicians aren't geeks. They might have a computer for email and web browsing, but they have no idea how to publish their material. They're selling CDs at shows and hoping for a record contract; Going it alone isn't even on their radar screens.
> A job with non-easily lifted expertise (your consultancy) will still be the way to go, for
> those who don't wish to be the guinea pigs in other people's "experiments".
I don't know if that has much to do with it. Artists are a strange bunch. They don't appear to mind living with five other guys in a studio apartment, eating Ramen six days a week. They're ready to whore themselves to a record company at the drop of a hat; If there's a chance to "make it" via another path, I seriously doubt they'll turn it down.
> Hef?
Hef doesn't wear a bathrobe, you uncultured git. It's a smoking jacket
s.c.f.t.h.i.
> I am "successful" in my career. But I've found my day job unfulfilling for years, and as a
>musician I often wonder if I should follow my heart elsewhere.
Let me offer you the other side of the coin.
I was a musician since I was a little kid. I have a music degree from a big-name private music school. Playing was, and is, something that I very much enjoy.
I've also programmed as a hobby since I was a kid, since starting out on a Trash-80. Computers were something that interested me, but I never considered making a career out of it.
In 1996, I was a year out of college. I was living on a friend's couch, and eating cold cereal and canned beans three meals a day. I had *no* money, and no real prospects for making any.
A friend of a friend of a friend was running a porn site, and the business had grown to the point where he needed help. He offered me a job, part time, sorting pictures and answering customer email. Over time, I learned html, then perl, then server administration, blah blah blah.
Fast-forward seven years. I run my own consultancy. I work in my bathrobe most days. I eat cold cereal and canned beans (sometimes) because I happen to like them, not because this week's food budget is $4. I still play, but only for fun. Life is good.
Art is great, but be prepared to be a pauper if you're going to try to make a living at it. If you can deal with complete and utter poverty, go for it. For me, it just wasn't worth it.
Yea, I know. It was this or a post about Natalie Portman's tits, and I flipped a coin.
Sometime in the last week, presumably.
2003-01-21 01:53:12 More Patent Nonsense (articles,patents) (rejected)
Although a knee jerk reaction is to express distaste for this decision, perhaps we should consider it in more depth. Like it or not, 'Acme Axe Manufacturers' and its work, the Acme Super Chopper, does aid axe murders.
Yes, that's not why they were created and there are legit uses, but many axe murders do use them to split the skulls of busty coeds on holidays at remote cabins. Is this necessarily what we want? If axe murders are using the Acme Super Chopper to commit crimes, isn't everyone who owns an axe just as guilty, blahda blahda?
Additionally, while this is not a popular idea around here, isn't it the companies right to decide that they only want their axes to be used on wood? I don't see anyone saying that people should be allowed to chop metal, plastic, or bales of hay into smaller pieces, so why should wood be different?
>1993 - Current
>South Dakota School of Mines and Technology Rapid City, SD
>Undergraduate studies in Computer Science as my work schedule permits.
"Lane, I've been going to this high school for seven and a half years. I'm no dummy."
Keep up the good work. In five or six more years, I'm sure you'll have that undergrad degree.
A couple of days later... :)
I've never noticed that about ours, but we have a server monkey that presses any buttons that need pressing. Perhaps it's happening, and I've never heard about it.
Best Power publishes their pinouts and protocols, in addition to making a very nice UPS.
Their products are also bundled with power management software that works just peachily on a Linux box.
We've had a Patriot Pro in place on our production machine for a year or so now, absolutely no complaints.
They're called buckling spring keyboards. They kick all kinds of ass. They'll last forever, you can clean them in the dishwasher, and they're heavy enough to club an intruder with.
PCKeyboard sells new ones, but you can regularly find used ones at computer shows and flea markets.
PCKeyboard also sells the same keyboard with a trackpoint. It's handy, but the keyboard invariably lasts far, far longer than the trackpoint.
That wasn't me posting AC.
You're forgetting about shipping costs, like I said. You can probably buy the plain 'o beige-and-velcro within four minutes of your home, instead of sending away for it. You can also probably find a it cheaper than $20.
It costs $8 to get the IMAK to my house. I can stop at a CVS on the way home for nothing.
Cheaper.
You'll want the one that goes around the thumb, here.
Pick up a pair of wrist braces at the local drug store. Much cheaper, and they do the same thing.
NetLedger Small Business Suite: $1200 per year
Upgrades Required To Use Quickbooks Tax Tables:
- Do-It-YourSelf Payroll: $169 per year
- Upgrade To Current Quickbooks Version: $100 one-time
Great CPA you have there.
Without Proxomitron, the page comes up with an ignorant little image on it.
With Proximitron, I get the same page, without the ignorant little image.
Am I missing something?
Blades for what? A straight razor?
You can buy a straight razor here, as well as a bunch of other places, including the knife place at the mall.
You'll also need a strop, a badger bristle brush, and a good glycerin shaving soap. You'll eventually need a stone, too, but not right away.
Most barbers over 50 or 60 will know how to use a straight razor, and can be convinced to show you how to use it. There are also tutorials on the web, such as this one.
I shave with a straight razor. My annual shaving costs are $3, for a new bar of shaving soap.
Find an old barber to teach you how to use it. Once you get the hang of it, it's no harder than a safety razor, and it shaves just as well.
The structure spins around, but the entrance is in the tail? If I go out to get the paper on a windy day, will I be stuck chasing my front door around for the following two hours?
A whole 727, probably up around 100,000 pounds stripped, on a 4' column?
I think I'll hold out, and make an offer on the second one.
Reasonably high?
The actual minimum takeoff speed would depend on a lot of variables, but the wind is never going to get fast enough to actually generate lift.
If it could, 727's would be hopping around airstrips all the time.
>My 10 year-old godson loves Atari 2600 games.
You obviously have some kind of problem with the concept of "teenager".
>I can cover a lot of teenagers on my list with this one
Be careful there. A fifteen year old today was born in 1987, ten years after the 2600 was released. Unless the teenagers on your list are unsusally geeky, they've probably never even heard of the 2600, and they'll think your a odd old coot for getting this for them.
There are the same people that don't get references like "Look like I picked the wrong day to quit sniffing glue."
Damn kids.
>Oh, your wit is sooo charming.
Thanks!
>You must think I'm a newbie because I didn't laugh at your low-brow attempt at humor.
No, you're a newbie because you're user #253703. When was that number issued? Last week?
>The 'F' word is your best friend isn't it?
A logical conclusion, given that I've used it exactly once in this thread.
>Always resort to it in an argument don't you?
Only when I'm feeding the trolls.
>Well, that'll get you far in life, what are you a 'Refuse Engineer'?
It's "Sanitation Engineer", thank you very much.
>You know you don't have to be obnoxious to make a point.
Of course not. It certainly helps, though.
>What'r you 13 years old?
Yes. I'm a 13 year old with a five-digit UID.
Fuck off, newbie.