Awarded, his works turned to a movie, and Sci-Fi channel did a remake of Dune as a series....I would consider the author as well regarded, not underrated.
Franklin Patrick Herbert, Jr. (October 8, 1920 – February 11, 1986)[2] was a critically acclaimed and commercially successful American science fiction author.
Excellent Author. Excellent book, but I feel is underrated. Anchor for a good series that he wrote that deals with politics, martial arts, and fighting oppression.
I suspect The Hard Drive Shortage(tm) of a few seasons ago wasn't due to weather at the factories. That was just a cover story. They probably all went to the NSA, so don’t think we'll be able to ddos them with attachments;)
Ah, I read the 2nd URL ( http://www.eolewater.com/gb/our-products/range.html ), and see that the company does make PV and grid-tie systems, so my previous is now moot, as they already have systems to do electricity generation as well.
...Then the people consuming the electricity can chose to use it to run moisture water condensers, or make electricity for things like running air conditioning?
Or, win/win: Put up wind farms that generate electricity. Run electricity to dwellings. Have the dwellings run air conditioning systems that also collect condensed water.
A much more interesting potential application than all of those combined is Rapid Single Flux Quantum [wikipedia.org] digital circuitry. That stuff makes silicon look like vacuum tubes. Think 100GHz+, self-clocking, 1000x as efficient as CMOS, and manufacturable now, with only the cooling requirement the big down-side. If RSFQ could be made to work at room-temperature (or even near it), you could be looking at a sudden massive leap forward in computer power like never before. For example, with a power draw 1000x lower, it would be possible to stack every chip in a typical computer into a little "cube", with much shorter wire lengths, and hence, latencies. We can't do this now, because that cube would literally melt in seconds form the heat.
Skynet Clippy on M$ Office RTSC edition, for a RTSC PC?! *shudder*
It seems that some of the extra drilling is to compensate for reduced extraction rates as US oil fields get depleted, to keep overall production in bbl/day from dropping too fast.
With the cost of renting the drilling rigs, the labor, piping, and such expenses, it would seem add to the cost of US oil extraction for those depleting fields, and might help explain why 'extra drilling != lower fuel costs'
(I like the oil news discussion website http://theoildrum.com./ In my opinion it is a good place to read about oil production, speculation, and "peak oil".)
I remember using "Computer Shopper" to find BBSs local to me, using my US Robotics 14.4k modem. 386DX Zeos with 8Mb of RAM, and a 387 Cyrix math coprocessor. 100Mb or so harddrive. DOS 5ish or 6ish? and Win 3.1
It was KBBS that I used for the Los Angeles area, back in the day. Free account = 30 minutes/day, then disconnect....And attending their monthly pizza munches.
Perhaps keep your networking with colleagues in other departments up as best you can.
Do as many lunches with them as you can, happy hour, whatever. Then, if you feel you can confide in a few, let it be known you might be interested in doing something new, and to let you know if there are openings in their departments. Be patient. Hopefully you will have earned some cred with them, and good karma, and they will think to mention you if there are positions opening up in their depts...
So thoughts on stuff that isn't DB programing, but might be able to leverage your skills (if you find them tolerable): Project management (DB projects, or any IT-ish projects) Coordination roles between IT and business folks (the "Jump to Conclusions Guy")
My very boring story, very short: 1. Five years J2EE for a dotcom, then 2. Two years IT at Very Big health plan. Got known for being friendly (for a IT guy) and able to get along with another dept that did coordination with IT depts. 3. Coordination person at such a dept was retiring, and asked if I had ever thought about doing their job. Pondered for a week or two, then said "um, okay, sure!" 4. Coordination person asked for up-to-date resume. Gave it to their mgr. They put in the good word about me. I was put into the interview queue. 5. Got the job. Same pay range. Stayed in same company with very good benefits!
A little bit more wild: 1. Determine what actual income is a minimum you need to 'enjoy life' and provide for your family. 2. Look at _all_ jobs that are posted (dice, carreerbuilder, local paper's classifieds, whatever) and just see what kinds of jobs pay enough 3. Kinda do a self risk/reward analysis on if you think you'd be successful at any of those jobs, and apply for the ones that seem worth the risk.
VERY wild, burns bridge if you jump, but actually watched someone do this: Even while you are working your current job: Apply for a job, and accept it. Pick a starting date. Then put in for a long vacation from your current job, vacation to start same day as 1st day of working the new job. During your new job, within the vacation, decide if you want to stay. If you do, quit the other job. If you decide you don't like it, then quit, and go back to original job.
The CAISO ("The California ISO provides open and non-discriminatory access to the bulk of the state’s wholesale transmission grid") keeps a daily set of graphs on the utility generation demand, and contributions by renewables here:
Slashdot Mirror
Awarded, his works turned to a movie, and Sci-Fi channel did a remake of Dune as a series. ...I would consider the author as well regarded, not underrated.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_herbert
Agreed. Excellent author.
Excellent Author. Excellent book, but I feel is underrated. Anchor for a good series that he wrote that deals with politics, martial arts, and fighting oppression.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Man_Who_Never_Missed
Total bummer ending. Most downer sci fi book that I can remember reading.
Loved Harrison's Stainless Steel Rat set, too.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Stainless_Steel_Rat
Seems there needs to be a way to create "open" patents that needs to be invented. Perhaps create a gnupatents.org?
Seems to have worked (kinda, mostly) for open source, but with licenses being what was invented (gpl license, apache license, etc.).
I suspect The Hard Drive Shortage(tm) of a few seasons ago wasn't due to weather at the factories. That was just a cover story. They probably all went to the NSA, so don’t think we'll be able to ddos them with attachments ;)
Ah, I read the 2nd URL ( http://www.eolewater.com/gb/our-products/range.html ), and see that the company does make PV and grid-tie systems, so my previous is now moot, as they already have systems to do electricity generation as well.
...Then the people consuming the electricity can chose to use it to run moisture water condensers, or make electricity for things like running air conditioning?
Or, win/win: Put up wind farms that generate electricity.
Run electricity to dwellings. Have the dwellings run air conditioning systems that also collect condensed water.
...Science believes in You! ;)
Skynet Clippy on M$ Office RTSC edition, for a RTSC PC?! *shudder*
s/Everyon/Everyone (my bad)
...for Everyon! :D
It seems that some of the extra drilling is to compensate for reduced extraction rates as US oil fields get depleted, to keep overall production in bbl/day from dropping too fast.
With the cost of renting the drilling rigs, the labor, piping, and such expenses, it would seem add to the cost of US oil extraction for those depleting fields, and might help explain why 'extra drilling != lower fuel costs'
(I like the oil news discussion website http://theoildrum.com./ In my opinion it is a good place to read about oil production, speculation, and "peak oil".)
You can use my drug as an ingredient to newer drugs, as long as you keep my recipe open, etc....
Good enough for me.
I remember using "Computer Shopper" to find BBSs local to me, using my US Robotics 14.4k modem. 386DX Zeos with 8Mb of RAM, and a 387 Cyrix math coprocessor. 100Mb or so harddrive. DOS 5ish or 6ish? and Win 3.1
It was KBBS that I used for the Los Angeles area, back in the day. Free account = 30 minutes/day, then disconnect. ...And attending their monthly pizza munches.
...but it sure does rhyme -- Mark Twain
Perhaps keep your networking with colleagues in other departments up as best you can.
Do as many lunches with them as you can, happy hour, whatever.
Then, if you feel you can confide in a few, let it be known you might be interested in doing something new, and to let you know if there are openings in their departments. Be patient. Hopefully you will have earned some cred with them, and good karma, and they will think to mention you if there are positions opening up in their depts...
So thoughts on stuff that isn't DB programing, but might be able to leverage your skills (if you find them tolerable):
Project management (DB projects, or any IT-ish projects)
Coordination roles between IT and business folks (the "Jump to Conclusions Guy")
My very boring story, very short:
1. Five years J2EE for a dotcom, then
2. Two years IT at Very Big health plan. Got known for being friendly (for a IT guy) and able to get along with another dept that did coordination with IT depts.
3. Coordination person at such a dept was retiring, and asked if I had ever thought about doing their job. Pondered for a week or two, then said "um, okay, sure!"
4. Coordination person asked for up-to-date resume. Gave it to their mgr. They put in the good word about me. I was put into the interview queue.
5. Got the job. Same pay range. Stayed in same company with very good benefits!
A little bit more wild:
1. Determine what actual income is a minimum you need to 'enjoy life' and provide for your family.
2. Look at _all_ jobs that are posted (dice, carreerbuilder, local paper's classifieds, whatever) and just see what kinds of jobs pay enough
3. Kinda do a self risk/reward analysis on if you think you'd be successful at any of those jobs, and apply for the ones that seem worth the risk.
VERY wild, burns bridge if you jump, but actually watched someone do this:
Even while you are working your current job: Apply for a job, and accept it. Pick a starting date. Then put in for a long vacation from your current job, vacation to start same day as 1st day of working the new job.
During your new job, within the vacation, decide if you want to stay. If you do, quit the other job. If you decide you don't like it, then quit, and go back to original job.
Fun read, interesting, scary, and a "D'Oh!" all in one.
http://www.h-online.com/security/news/item/Highly-critical-zero-day-vulnerability-in-Windows-discovered-1398625.html
Sadly, I can imagine it now:
Body on slab.
Toe tagged.
Toe tag and Coroner's report reads: "Death due to life support medical device BSOD."
The CAISO ("The California ISO provides open and non-discriminatory access to the bulk of the state’s wholesale transmission grid") keeps a daily set of graphs on the utility generation demand, and contributions by renewables here:
http://www.caiso.com/Pages/TodaysOutlook.aspx
Agree.
Work issues locked-down laptops, M$ only. Entire workforce not allowed to change the OS or do any admin tasks on 'em.
At home, Debian Stable workstation 100% of the time (not a dual-boot).
Find local social groups that have meetings. Network. Camaraderie may help, and word-of-mouth is a great way to get inspired.
For example, I am a member of the SGVLUG. Sure, its Linux focused, but the skillset of the attendees and members is quite vast.
Hope all these suggestions from people help.