I did the same thing for a guy who owns a karate dojo. Not to name names *cough* Mick *cough* had this funy way of stating a requirement, and then changing the requirement half way through a project. I spent a lot of time with him.
One day I put in about six hours, and he says "how much do I owe ya?" I say "$140." He says "ouch..." lets see 140/6= about $23.34/hr. not a bad deal? eh?
Hope he got his stuff going the way he wants... but I know he paid way more than I was charging him.
The crazy bastard also wanted me to drive one and a half hours away to work for him, without drive time of course.
I agree that there is some price fixing there. It seems that people are willing to pay for the DVD media, and not the movie that is on it.
It's a shame, really.
In my case if I think a movie is good enough that I will watch it again (a damn rare case) then I will buy it when hollywood video / blockbuster sells it as a previously viewed title.
My father worked for the semiconductor industry for quite some time. He was a semiconductor technician for National Semiconductor, Matshusta, Panasonic, and HoneyWell.
I think cost is what drives piracy, and I think it's time the movie industry and recording industry realized this. Instead of spending more money on DRM that will be cracked anyway, they should just give in and realize that no one wants to pay $20-30 for one DVD. The people I know who purchase DVD's on a regular basis only buy them when they are on sale for $10 or below.
That is exactly the problem in my opinion. Where we sit right now, is at the most media hungry point in our civilization, and it's only going to get worse. People devour this media as if it was the water of life. Because of this producers create more media. Supply & Demand. However for some reason, people keep buying low quality media. I am not talking about Generic DVD-r's here... and producers are seeing the demand for crap actually increase!
What we have now is a seemingly botomless pit of media consisting of bubblegum pop, Tom Cruise movies, Games from Monolith, and tons of consumption in every form. No one can deny this.
Now, I am a gamer, and so I consume most of my media in that format. But anyone who's Int > 20 knows that in general, out of 25 movies to choose from at your local gigaplex, 1-2 of them will be worth watching and maybe one worth buying on DVD. At your next visit to the theater, the same 1-2 movies will still be on the screen, and the crap will get rotated through.
With music on the radio, same thing right? Top 100 songs on the chart and maybe 4 of those artists have CD's with more than one good track. The top ten stay at the top for a while, and all the crap gets cycled through underneath...
Now, I know that there are exceptions. I loved LOTR, Potter, Some top 40, WOW, Half-Life 2... etc. but the point is.... (yes there is a point here.. (yes I'm A.D.D.))
I think that piracy is huge is because of the sheer amount of crap you have to wade through to find something you like. It's not worth spending all your money on crap to find that one song / movie you like, so people steal it all, sort it, then purchase the cd/ dvd/ game that they want. Make the crap cost what it's worth, and people might actually pay for it. Interestingly enough, it's easier to let the crap sit on your HD let someone else decide if they like it via P2P, than it is to take the time to delete it.
Now I know that alot of people don't actually purchase their games , movies and music. I don't condone that perspective. I agree with the shareware point of view. If you like it buy it.
My level 60 mage does not want to steal cars in GTA!
Mine does! Cops comin hard on your tail? Try jumping out let them surround you. When they say put your hands up, insta cast [Frost NOVA] TM, run down an alley, hop the fence, blink from the next fourway intersection, drink an invisibilty potion, and sigh "that one was close!"
Thats not accurate. They don't stop producing electricity. For the life that you own your house, they keep bringing their cost down.
Usual payback time is ~~ 15-20 years. Small systems are on the higher side. of that curve. Medium systems on the low end, and bigger systems back up to the higher end.
In the summer I get a big benifit. Often times my meter spins backwards. Infact My AC is paid for by the solar system. My summer bill (with two gaming rigs usually on) is about $25-$30 with A/C! I was at 75 before the system.[EDIT] w/o A/C [/EDIT]
On the bright side, you're consuming less from the grid. This is a Good Thing.
it seems you took my tone to be aggressive, I am sorry about that. I was just trying to inform you from the perspective of someone who did do all the math.
First of all, my roof angle does not match. Secondly, wind is not my concern. Sleet, ice, and heavy snow is my concern.
Mine doesn't match perfectly either, but it's close. The ice and sno issue is a good concern.
Multiply $50 x 12 x life of your home. (lets say 40 years to be conservative)
I'm a bachelor living in a small-ish suburban home. The odds are extremely slim that I'm going to live in this house for 40 years. Let's run your numbers again, but for 10 years (being optimistic about how long the panels hold up to Minnesota winters.)
$50 x 12 x 10 = $6000.
Don't forget to add it to the value of your house when you sell it! Also because you live in a small home, you get bigger savings over the long term.
At least I'm lucky enough to live in a nice neighborhood. I have friends who wouldn't want to put a $20 garden gnome outside their house, let alone a $3000 easy-to-damage solar array. They are not that easy to damage, I mean once they are up, they are up. There is very little maintence that has to be done.
Now, since I don't have $3000 just lying around, I'm going to BORROW that $3000 which you conservatively estimated to be the cost of solar panels (ignoring the cost of installation, since I am neither a carpenter nor an electrician). I don't want to take out a lien on my house, so we are talking credit cards or personal loans here. What's 12% interest on $3000 over ten years? If you are reading slashdot, you can do the install yourself. I am an not an electrician, carpenter or even hobby in either area. Its probably akin to bolting on a supercharger. Yeah, it takes time, and effort. But if you can handle a wrench, and you have basic instructions, you could do it.
and though I live in Rainy Western Washington, I still get a very signifigant savings.
"Savings"??? You mean it doesn't cover 100% of that $50 a month we were talking about? Okay, time to do the math again.
Let's say it gives you a 50% savings.
$25 x 12 x 10 = $3000.
Shit. Now it looks like it saves less than it costs.
Thats not accurate. They don't stop producing electricity. For the life that you own your house, they keep bringing their cost down.
Usual payback time is ~~ 15-20 years. Small systems are on the higher side. of that curve. Medium systems on the low end, and bigger systems back up to the higher end.
In the summer I get a big benifit. Often times my meter spins backwards. Infact My AC is usually paid for by the solar system. My summer bill (with two gaming rigs usually on) is about $25-$30 with A/C! I was at 75 before the system.
On the bright side, you're consuming less from the grid. This is a Good Thing.
Sounds like a decimal point error to me. 35ooooo cary the one... 3600000000000000000 degrees. Eh.. looks right. Ken would you publish this for me? And pick up my laundry from the cleaners would ya?
Thanks everyone who replied to this thread. You have given me some good insightful info that I am taking into account. Also if your on REXXAR please feel free to deposit some gold to LSONESMULE 8') as I have taken your advice, and created a mule / bank char.
1. Since this is such a great deal, I assume you have already done so, yes? He may not have, but I have.
2. On the roof of my house in Minnesota, I'm lucky if I can keep my TV antenna intact for more than a couple years. How long would solar panels last up there?
If your roof angle matches the angle needed, the panels should be bolted to the roof. Now your system has roughly the same aerodynamics. (as is in my instal on a normal (not steep)sloped roof)Also if wind is an issue, you should consider a small wind turbine too.
3. Wouldn't you also need to spend a few grand on a battery big enough to get you through nights (and cloudy days)? HEAVENS NO You don't want a battery system if you can avoid it TRUST ME. If you are going OFF THE GRID that may be the case, but otherwise here is how it works. Your solar system produces energy during the day from sunlight. The energy is in DC. It is fed into an INVERTER which converts it to AC. The inverter is seeded with the grid voltage so as to match it. Excess power is then backfed into the grid. So during the day when your system is making more than what you are using, your selling your power back. At night, your just buying back the power you sold earlier in the day. This has the added benefit of never noticing in your home when the solar is "working" and when it is not.
4. While my Mac, my home entertainment system, my fridge, and my lights all consume energy, it pales in comparison with the energy consumption of my car, and the natural gas used to heat my home in the winter. Why would I want to buy a $3000+ system which only saves me about $50 a month?
Multiply $50 x 12 x life of your home. (lets say 40 years to be conservative)50x12 = $600 600x40 = $24000
Solar power generated decreases minimally with time but the rate of decrease also decreases. so if we take off a whole year there (just for grins & giggles thats 2.5%.. I don't know actual figures here) we still get $23400.
why wouldn't you do this? Econ 101.
I am not a pro, so please take this as you will, but I do have a system hooked to my house, and though I live in Rainy Western Washington, I still get a very signifigant savings.
As far as heat goes, you will never be more efficient than actually burning something to get your warmth. but with reduced electric bills, you could suplement your natural gas with electric space heaters (used only in the room you are in) to see a HUGE savings over the course of the year.
Anyway, ethanol is essentially solar power, but it is only energy-positive if it's used locally. I'm curious to see what solar panels yield in a full lifecycle analysis.
You'll be waiting a while, even old solar panels still produce e-. I am so glad I have an alternative energy Freak at my house who installed panels & an inverter for me. I live in not so sunny Olympia, WA, USA but they definatley help in the winter, and in the summer they cover the cost of my AC needs (which is very little).
One good way is to reduce the latency by simplifying the packets. What would be neat is if the network card did the encryption & such.
maybe there would be a system similar to a physX processor. Where the game sends all network related data to a card that does only networking related tasks. Firewall, Routing, protocals, heuristics... etc. all at the card lvl.
One Idea I just had was that the server could just change the encryption level of the packet in real time. 40 players on screen at once? all being active? Reduce it to 32 bit. your the only one in a sea of npc's JACK it up to 256 bit. Or maybe just decrease the packet size dynamically. More players? send more smaller packets. Fewer players? send less but larger packets.
I am sure blizz's Network engineers probably allready worked/working on this type of stuff left and right. They are pioneering bandwidth issues that no one has really had before. New servers are just hammered by players looking to ease the strain,
I know some of the basics, and have made a few gold by playing the economy, buying low selling high kinda stuff. Some of my investments have lost, alot have won.
But there is no way I could have hit 35G at lvl 25 with all expenses paid.
Unless I was a skinning herbalist cloth farming mage. (which I have considered...)
You stated that in clear terms that hopefully everyone else understands. I read the article, but saw too many posts saying "so what?" or "thats not a security breach."
Tens of thousands? yeah that sounds about right, remember our Government is technically very young still.
People have been passing major bills with minor riders for the last 200 years. Often, since the main bill is the real issue the riders pass on without a care. Wouldn't want to shoot down a hurricane Katrina relief bill for a rider that lets comercial business to encroach on national park land now would we? (this is not a real example)
However, MORE time spent doing a task INCREASES SKILL (skilling up) (I think that is legit is it not?)
Skill can create $ which can be used to overcome deficiancies in other skills
Money > Skill This is a CORE AMERICAN VALUE, and a concept taught in ECON 101. Why work hard to do something that costs just a little bit of money to have someone else do it?
i.e. Lets say that you make $20.00/hr at your job. Lets also say that you value your free time at "time & 1/2" or $30/hr
you can spend 3 hours to change the spark plugs on your car. (it's a new one, and the back plugs are hard to reach)
or you can pay a mechanic $60 to do it for you.
Since... 3 hrs x $30 = $90 for you to do it yourself the shop charge is only $60
In our model it saves you about $30 to just let the shop deal with it, and you get a guarantee on their work.
Here is a real model that I have to explain to people all the time.
at the same time John Enduser gets a nasty spyware infection. The best techs would need 4-6 hours at $75/ hour to repair his computer.
Lets assume 5 hours at $75 thats $375 to fix a spyware problem & keep your data.
You could loose your data with a format re-instal at $75 (one quickie hour)
If you only have a few games and some old documents that you don't really need what should you do here? Pick the one hour meal deal of course!
Now lets say that you had the last copy of great grandma's picture of you, your mom, grandma, great gramma, and to top it off, you forgot to back it up.
Now you will pay whatever the cost is to get that information preserved. $375? YUP 500? YUP
It's really simple, just view the U.G.E. table provided below:
Slashdot Mirror
I did the same thing for a guy who owns a karate dojo. Not to name names *cough* Mick *cough* had this funy way of stating a requirement, and then changing the requirement half way through a project. I spent a lot of time with him.
/hr. not a bad deal? eh?
One day I put in about six hours, and he says "how much do I owe ya?" I say "$140." He says "ouch..." lets see 140/6= about $23.34
Hope he got his stuff going the way he wants... but I know he paid way more than I was charging him.
The crazy bastard also wanted me to drive one and a half hours away to work for him, without drive time of course.
Lets just say that ended bad for all...
IT was called Real Genius
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089886/
Thanks Jerk,
I almost got fired, I laughed so loud!
Seriously
-dw
All I get is some Carp and a hnagover
duh duh... (silence)
I agree that there is some price fixing there.
It seems that people are willing to pay for the DVD media, and not the movie that is on it.
It's a shame, really.
In my case if I think a movie is good enough that I will watch it again (a damn rare case) then I will buy it when hollywood video / blockbuster sells it as a previously viewed title.
My father worked for the semiconductor industry for quite some time. He was a semiconductor technician for National Semiconductor, Matshusta, Panasonic, and HoneyWell.
I think cost is what drives piracy, and I think it's time the movie industry and recording industry realized this. Instead of spending more money on DRM that will be cracked anyway, they should just give in and realize that no one wants to pay $20-30 for one DVD. The people I know who purchase DVD's on a regular basis only buy them when they are on sale for $10 or below.
That is exactly the problem in my opinion. Where we sit right now, is at the most media hungry point in our civilization, and it's only going to get worse. People devour this media as if it was the water of life. Because of this producers create more media. Supply & Demand. However for some reason, people keep buying low quality media. I am not talking about Generic DVD-r's here... and producers are seeing the demand for crap actually increase!
What we have now is a seemingly botomless pit of media consisting of bubblegum pop, Tom Cruise movies, Games from Monolith, and tons of consumption in every form. No one can deny this.
Now, I am a gamer, and so I consume most of my media in that format. But anyone who's Int > 20 knows that in general, out of 25 movies to choose from at your local gigaplex, 1-2 of them will be worth watching and maybe one worth buying on DVD. At your next visit to the theater, the same 1-2 movies will still be on the screen, and the crap will get rotated through.
With music on the radio, same thing right? Top 100 songs on the chart and maybe 4 of those artists have CD's with more than one good track. The top ten stay at the top for a while, and all the crap gets cycled through underneath...
Now, I know that there are exceptions.
I loved LOTR, Potter, Some top 40, WOW, Half-Life 2... etc.
but the point is.... (yes there is a point here.. (yes I'm A.D.D.))
I think that piracy is huge is because of the sheer amount of crap you have to wade through to find something you like. It's not worth spending all your money on crap to find that one song / movie you like, so people steal it all, sort it, then purchase the cd/ dvd/ game that they want. Make the crap cost what it's worth, and people might actually pay for it. Interestingly enough, it's easier to let the crap sit on your HD let someone else decide if they like it via P2P, than it is to take the time to delete it.
Now I know that alot of people don't actually purchase their games , movies and music. I don't condone that perspective. I agree with the shareware point of view. If you like it buy it.
What do you think?
o.k.
You have way too much of an imagination...
8')
My level 60 mage does not want to steal cars in GTA!
Mine does!
Cops comin hard on your tail?
Try jumping out let them surround you. When they say put your hands up, insta cast [Frost NOVA] TM, run down an alley, hop the fence, blink from the next fourway intersection, drink an invisibilty potion, and sigh "that one was close!"
then your mana takes a week to recharge...
Agreed.
My main thoughts were just A.D.D. ramblings on how it might not be a vaporous claim.
I have lots of neet ideas, but even I know that doesn't mean they are useful!
Thats not accurate. They don't stop producing electricity.
For the life that you own your house, they keep bringing their cost down.
Usual payback time is ~~ 15-20 years. Small systems are on the higher side. of that curve. Medium systems on the low end, and bigger systems back up to the higher end.
In the summer I get a big benifit. Often times my meter spins backwards. Infact My AC is paid for by the solar system. My summer bill (with two gaming rigs usually on) is about $25-$30 with A/C! I was at 75 before the system.[EDIT] w/o A/C [/EDIT]
On the bright side, you're consuming less from the grid. This is a Good Thing.
it seems you took my tone to be aggressive, I am sorry about that. I was just trying to inform you from the perspective of someone who did do all the math.
First of all, my roof angle does not match. Secondly, wind is not my concern.
Sleet, ice, and heavy snow is my concern.
Mine doesn't match perfectly either, but it's close. The ice and sno issue is a good concern.
Multiply $50 x 12 x life of your home. (lets say 40 years to be conservative)
I'm a bachelor living in a small-ish suburban home. The odds are extremely slim that I'm going to live in this house for 40 years. Let's run your numbers again, but for 10 years (being optimistic about how long the panels hold up to Minnesota winters.)
$50 x 12 x 10 = $6000.
Don't forget to add it to the value of your house when you sell it! Also because you live in a small home, you get bigger savings over the long term.
At least I'm lucky enough to live in a nice neighborhood. I have friends who wouldn't want to put a $20 garden gnome outside their house, let alone a $3000 easy-to-damage solar array.
They are not that easy to damage, I mean once they are up, they are up. There is very little maintence that has to be done.
Now, since I don't have $3000 just lying around, I'm going to BORROW that $3000 which you conservatively estimated to be the cost of solar panels (ignoring the cost of installation, since I am neither a carpenter nor an electrician). I don't want to take out a lien on my house, so we are talking credit cards or personal loans here.
What's 12% interest on $3000 over ten years?
If you are reading slashdot, you can do the install yourself. I am an not an electrician, carpenter or even hobby in either area. Its probably akin to bolting on a supercharger. Yeah, it takes time, and effort. But if you can handle a wrench, and you have basic instructions, you could do it.
and though I live in Rainy Western Washington, I still get a very signifigant savings.
"Savings"??? You mean it doesn't cover 100% of that $50 a month we were talking about? Okay, time to do the math again.
Let's say it gives you a 50% savings.
$25 x 12 x 10 = $3000.
Shit. Now it looks like it saves less than it costs.
Thats not accurate. They don't stop producing electricity.
For the life that you own your house, they keep bringing their cost down.
Usual payback time is ~~ 15-20 years. Small systems are on the higher side. of that curve. Medium systems on the low end, and bigger systems back up to the higher end.
In the summer I get a big benifit. Often times my meter spins backwards. Infact My AC is usually paid for by the solar system. My summer bill (with two gaming rigs usually on) is about $25-$30 with A/C! I was at 75 before the system.
On the bright side, you're consuming less from the grid. This is a Good Thing.
Sounds like a decimal point error to me. 35ooooo cary the one...
3600000000000000000 degrees.
Eh.. looks right.
Ken would you publish this for me?
And pick up my laundry from the cleaners would ya?
Thanks everyone who replied to this thread. You have given me some good insightful info that I am taking into account. Also if your on REXXAR please feel free to deposit some gold to LSONESMULE 8')
as I have taken your advice, and created a mule / bank char.
LOL
5g Auction fees
1. Since this is such a great deal, I assume you have already done so, yes?
He may not have, but I have.
2. On the roof of my house in Minnesota, I'm lucky if I can keep my TV antenna intact for more than a couple years. How long would solar panels last up there?
If your roof angle matches the angle needed, the panels should be bolted to the roof. Now your system has roughly the same aerodynamics. (as is in my instal on a normal (not steep)sloped roof)Also if wind is an issue, you should consider a small wind turbine too.
3. Wouldn't you also need to spend a few grand on a battery big enough to get you through nights (and cloudy days)?
HEAVENS NO
You don't want a battery system if you can avoid it TRUST ME. If you are going OFF THE GRID that may be the case, but otherwise here is how it works. Your solar system produces energy during the day from sunlight. The energy is in DC. It is fed into an INVERTER which converts it to AC. The inverter is seeded with the grid voltage so as to match it. Excess power is then backfed into the grid. So during the day when your system is making more than what you are using, your selling your power back. At night, your just buying back the power you sold earlier in the day. This has the added benefit of never noticing in your home when the solar is "working" and when it is not.
4. While my Mac, my home entertainment system, my fridge, and my lights all consume energy, it pales in comparison with the energy consumption of my car, and the natural gas used to heat my home in the winter. Why would I want to buy a $3000+ system which only saves me about $50 a month?
Multiply $50 x 12 x life of your home. (lets say 40 years to be conservative)50x12 = $600
600x40 = $24000
Solar power generated decreases minimally with time but the rate of decrease also decreases. so if we take off a whole year there (just for grins & giggles thats 2.5%.. I don't know actual figures here) we still get $23400.
why wouldn't you do this? Econ 101.
I am not a pro, so please take this as you will, but I do have a system hooked to my house, and though I live in Rainy Western Washington, I still get a very signifigant savings.
As far as heat goes, you will never be more efficient than actually burning something to get your warmth. but with reduced electric bills, you could suplement your natural gas with electric space heaters (used only in the room you are in) to see a HUGE savings over the course of the year.
Anyway, ethanol is essentially solar power, but it is only energy-positive if it's used locally. I'm curious to see what solar panels yield in a full lifecycle analysis.
You'll be waiting a while, even old solar panels still produce e-. I am so glad I have an alternative energy Freak at my house who installed panels & an inverter for me. I live in not so sunny Olympia, WA, USA but they definatley help in the winter, and in the summer they cover the cost of my AC needs (which is very little).
One good way is to reduce the latency by simplifying the packets. What would be neat is if the network card did the encryption & such.
/working on this type of stuff left and right. They are pioneering bandwidth issues that no one has really had before. New servers are just hammered by players looking to ease the strain,
maybe there would be a system similar to a physX processor. Where the game sends all network related data to a card that does only networking related tasks. Firewall, Routing, protocals, heuristics... etc. all at the card lvl.
One Idea I just had was that the server could just change the encryption level of the packet in real time. 40 players on screen at once? all being active? Reduce it to 32 bit. your the only one in a sea of npc's JACK it up to 256 bit. Or maybe just decrease the packet size dynamically. More players? send more smaller packets. Fewer players? send less but larger packets.
I am sure blizz's Network engineers probably allready worked
any tips you would like to share?
I know some of the basics, and have made a few gold by playing the economy, buying low selling high kinda stuff. Some of my investments have lost, alot have won.
But there is no way I could have hit 35G at lvl 25 with all expenses paid.
Unless I was a skinning herbalist cloth farming mage. (which I have considered...)
THANK YOU!
You stated that in clear terms that hopefully everyone else understands. I read the article, but saw too many posts saying "so what?" or "thats not a security breach."
Vorgons reading poetry comes to mind...
FOURTY 2
Yeah, your not kiddin'
Tens... Nope...
Hundreds? nope...
Thousands? Getting close.
Tens of thousands? yeah that sounds about right, remember our Government is technically very young still.
People have been passing major bills with minor riders for the last 200 years. Often, since the main bill is the real issue the riders pass on without a care. Wouldn't want to shoot down a hurricane Katrina relief bill for a rider that lets comercial business to encroach on national park land now would we? (this is not a real example)
Fusion itself usually doesn't, but it takes a nuclear reaction to generate the 1.21 jig a whats to start the fusion reactor
True true!
TIME != SKILL
However, MORE time spent doing a task INCREASES SKILL (skilling up) (I think that is legit is it not?)
Skill can create $ which can be used to overcome deficiancies in other skills
Money > Skill This is a CORE AMERICAN VALUE, and a concept taught in ECON 101.
Why work hard to do something that costs just a little bit of money to have someone else do it?
i.e.
Lets say that you make $20.00/hr at your job.
Lets also say that you value your free time at "time & 1/2" or $30/hr
you can spend 3 hours to change the spark plugs on your car. (it's a new one, and the back plugs are hard to reach)
or you can pay a mechanic $60 to do it for you.
Since... 3 hrs x $30 = $90 for you to do it yourself
the shop charge is only $60
In our model it saves you about $30 to just let the shop deal with it, and you get a guarantee on their work.
Here is a real model that I have to explain to people all the time.
at the same time John Enduser gets a nasty spyware infection. The best techs would need 4-6 hours at $75/ hour to repair his computer.
Lets assume 5 hours at $75
thats $375 to fix a spyware problem & keep your data.
You could loose your data with a format re-instal at $75 (one quickie hour)
If you only have a few games and some old documents that you don't really need what should you do here?
Pick the one hour meal deal of course!
Now lets say that you had the last copy of great grandma's picture of you, your mom, grandma, great gramma, and to top it off, you forgot to back it up.
Now you will pay whatever the cost is to get that information preserved. $375? YUP 500? YUP
It's really simple, just view the U.G.E. table provided below:
1. collect underpants
2. ?????????????????
3. Profit
-DW
I almost made that my sig because it was so funny!