Circumvention software will inevitably appear, and it is relatively hard to make ad circumvention illegal.
I don't know about that, look to the DMCA. It allegedly made circumvention software - and reverse engineering - illegal. I still see a lot of circumvention taking place, and reverse engineering hasn't stopped.
The corporate oligopolies could probably make ad circumvention illegal, but is the public going to agree to this part of the social contract? If they succeed in this, it will just be another uneforceable law on the books that will be ignored by most, prosecuted rarely and continue to degrade any possibility of respect for all laws. I would lump it in the same category as cohabitation, prostitution and gambling.
I don't remember who said it, but "Nothing breeds contempt for the law like passing laws which are unenforceable."
you'd better make sure it's an original tune. And don't even think of any lyrics, or Harry Fox himself will come, unbidden, into your mind - ala Freddy Kruger - to force you to write him a check.
I would put a smiley on this post, but the possibility of these things coming true is so close as to be more frightening than any horror movie.
*** Da Da Da Dum, De De De Dum *** -- at least this is in the public domain.
As a former Novell 3.x and 4.x Admin, this is consistent with my experiences. With the exception of a month or so of problems with ver 4.01, waiting for patches for some serious bugs, Novell was the most reliable server I have ever administered. The learning curve to admin the things was a little steep, but then again, it was my first admin experience. They do make a fine product.
*What follows might be OT*
On the drywall issue, my Grandfather was a painter (house and signs) for 40 years. He tells of painting the interiors of a huge tract of new homes.
There were 3 or 4 different floor plans, but within each plan, the houses were identical. He began painting a living room in one house and noted a framed box about 12 inches cubed on the floor and up against the wall. It had been drywalled, taped, textured and sanded - ready to paint, but it's presence was totally different from each of the other houses of that model.
His curiosity got the best of him, and even though the drywall crews would have to come back and redo this area, he went and got a claw hammer to rip the box out. Inside he found the sweepings from the carpenters; sawdust, wood chips, etc. It seems they had swept the trash up against the wall, then framed around it. The drywallers went along with the gag and drywalled and prepped it.
Not a mistake, maybe not laziness, but definitely a good gag. Maybe the carpenters were from MIT?
Why do they do this? Yup, chasing the buck with proprietary "innovations".
I have had a Palm IIIx (only 4Mb) for a year and a half. The last 6 months or better I have been salivating for a TRGPro. Same specs as the Palm IIIxe (8Mb ram) but with a compact flash slot on the back. It's form factor is identical to the III series except for a 1mm raised area on the back to make room for the CF slot. The speaker is louder and it can do multifrequency sound.
This thing is wonderful. I got a 16 Mb CF card for it for $40.00. The CFBackup software that comes with the Pro allows a one tap backup of your ram as a monolithic file (a la Ghost). The CFPro software allows you to transfer files back and forth from ram to CF, and AutoCF allows the PalmOS to directly access apps or databases on the CF card transparently as if they were in the memory.
My next purchase is a USB CF card reader which I will plug into my old PowerMac 7600 and be able to transfer files directly to the CF card without having to sync them through the PalmOS (necessary for.wav files which the HotSync won't transfer, but the Pro will play if they're on the CF card.)
The CF card uses DOS file structure and naming conventions (restrictions?) but I can live with that.
In addition to memory, the Pro is compatible with CF cards that provide modems, bar code wands, and even IBM's 1Gb Microdrive ($459, so I don't think I'll be getting one, but it's nice to know it can be done.) No GPS yet, but I'm sure someone will do it.
I didn't buy my Pro until I saw it in the local Sam's Club for $249. TRG's site had them at $329 forever, they have now dropped to $299.
In short, there is another option from the memory sticks, Springboards, etc.
The point keeps being made that the weak link in this chain is that the centralized server is operated as a business, that some sort of financial transaction is being made resulting in money flowing to the operator of the server.
How about these scenarios:
Scenario 1:
Some wealthy individual interested in upholding the constitutional provisions of fair use puts enough capital in an interest-bearing account (yes, in Switzerland or the Caymans) to pay the bill for Sealand or to pay for hosting in a number of places and/or rotate the service to new countries as it gets knocked down by the various legal systems. Or before it gets knocked down - staying one step ahead.
This would take the money issue out of it entirely. Is there any legal standing by the RIAA to knock this (these) server(s) down since no profit is being made and no money is transferred anywhere other than to the hosting service(s) as gift from a wealthy benefactor?
Scenario 2 (less likely):
Sealand decides to host the service out of the good of their hearts as a gift to the community. Again, no profit is made, no money changes hands at all. And the individual responsible for the hosting doesn't live in a country vulnerable to US law or trade pressures. Ok, this one forces the issue of the sovreignty of Sealand, and an argument could be made that hosting this service could be considered advertising for their other services.
Anyway, I'd like to hear what the legal issues are surrounding this. Any legal folks want to weigh in?
I have two checking accounts, one tied to a debit card, one not.
When a credit card number is stolen, the cardholder is only responsible for the first $50.00 of fraudulent charges.
When a debit card number is stolen, the thief can drain the account (whatever the balance is) and you have little hope of getting any of it back.
Sounds like a credit card is the way to go, right? Well, generally I would say yes, but how about those whose credit is poor or don't want to pay interest charges and fees?
Here's how I work it. I know that my checking account tied to the debit card is vulnerable so I don't keep very much in it - only what I can afford to lose if I am defrauded. When I need to make a purchase online, I first go to my online banking site and transfer the amount I need for the online purchase and then use the debit card for the purchase. Money goes in, money goes out, the balance stays low.
If someone compromises the database containing my debit card number they will only get $100.00 or less and I can close that checking account and start a new one tied to a new debit card number. No fighting with the bank or a vendor about unauthorized charges, I take my licks and get out. Sure, I might lose a little more than the $50.00, but to avoid the hassles it's worth it. I can only lose what's in that account so I keep it low and keep my exposure low.
The two accounts are completely separate. I have no checks to use with the debit card account and no debit card tied to the account I use to write checks. This doesn't fully protect me from identity theft, but makes it tougher on the thief.
Re:Character motivations and other stuff
on
Hannibal's Return
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· Score: 2
Thanks for your observation as a decent review.:)
Ok, point taken. I just felt that the additional disabilities and pain that Verger experienced in the book gave a more *intense* motivation to his character. In the movie, other than being disfigured, the wheelchair and having the memories of the experience with Lecter, it seemed that Mason wasn't much impaired from functioning in daily life. He was clear headed and continued to carry on his business activities. Ok, maybe he had no social life and there were those that were turned off or disgusted by his appearance, but that didn't much seem to matter to him except to shock people.
When I read the book, I thought of the quadraplegic Lincoln Rhyme character from Bone Collector, but with hideous disfigurement as well. If I remember correctly from the book, Verger controlled all his equipment with breath and voice control and he used a respirator to even survive. At least Rhyme had some use of his index finger and didn't frighten people who looked at him.
I do accept your point and I'm not trying to pick it apart, I just think that my observation was about the *intense* degree of hatred caused by his *intense* disfigurment and impairment. Of course that's just how I interpreted the book.
Thanks for your observations.
Character motivations and other stuff
on
Hannibal's Return
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· Score: 3
I read the book. I didn't like the movie.
As mentioned by another poster, there were many elements of the book that were left out of the movie that I feel were essential to fleshing out (if you'll pardon the expression) the plot and character motivations. Most greivous was the omission of Lecter's childhood experiences with his sister. In the book, this helped me to understand Lecter's twisted motives.
Sure, there was gore, but other than the brain scene, it was all more low-key and less graphic than many other movies I have seen. The gore wasn't even particularly well done in most scenes. Maybe I'm jaded by having read the book first and letting my imagination work away. There was more close up, gut-spilling action in Starship Troopers, for example. BTW, Starship troopers sucked the big green donkey dong in my opinion.
In the book, Mason Verger was confined to his bed, his body "wasted away" and his face far more deformed than Gary Oldman's makeup indicated. And where was that funky eye cup/lens that kept his one remaining eye lubricated? Verger's mobility also bothered me. In the book, he had far more motivation for his hatred for Lecter.
Verger's sister and her circumstances were a really interesting plot element. I understand the necessity for keeping the whole thing within the two hour time-frame, but I would much rather have seen her story and a little less of the stuff in Italy.
When I read the book, I was shocked at the ending, but the more I thought about how it had been accomplished, it fit right into Lecter's motivation and skill set, and made a good statement about the pliability of the human mind (if you'll pardon the Ray Liotta pun); especially if one (Clarice) already had the love/hate-attractiveness/repulsion thing going for Lecter (which was not developed clearly, if at all in the movie.)
Changing the ending so drastically from the book just soured my totally on the movie. It appears that this was a blatant ploy to leave things open for the easy sequel or two or three. Once again, commercialism won out over staying true to the author's story.
On the whole, I wouldn't reccommend seeing it, especially if you read the book first and liked it. My experience might have been better had I seen the movie first and then read the book.
I really liked this review at Salon, except for Charles Taylor's (reviewer) criticism of Harris.
If you haven't already seen it, do rent and see "Manhunter". This was based on Harris' first book Red Dragon. I liked Manhunter much better than Hannibal. I also liked the Lecter character better in Manhunter.
Here is the procedure for creating a Trademark Stick (TM)(Pat. Pend.)
Acquire a cylindrical object approximately 1 meter long and between 2.5 and 10 centimeters in diameter.
Said cylindrical object should be made out of hardwood or metal. The heavier the better.
Affix several strips of cloth tape to one end to ensure a good grip.
Trademark Stick (TM)(Pat. Pend.) is used to "educate" clueless USPTO employees, lawyers and others who believe it is possible and appropriate to trademark such common words as "the", "an", "it"; state names, like Kentucky (TM), and individual's surnames.
Any similarity between Trademark Stick (TM)(Pat. Pend.) and Cluestick (TM) are in the mind of the observer and not valid as prior art.
In return for general good feelings toward ones fellow human beings (except the clueless),/me grants any natural person (not corporations) permanent and non-exclusive right to use the name Trademark Stick (TM)(Pat. Pend.) and manufacture Trademark Stick (TM)(Pat. Pend.) in furtherance of the education of the clueless, or for any purpose whatsoever.
This exchange of consideration shall be considered a transaction for the purpose of establishing the commerce requirement of the pending Trademark Registration (TM) of this product.
I understand your pride at rapidly determining "the cause" of the breakup, but really all you identified was the endgame sequence --
Good point. We certainly didn't know the reason for the O-ring failure, or for that matter, didn't know that the SRB's *had* O-rings. We didn't know the specifics of the SRB construction at that point, all that came later with the discussions.
On that sad day, I was working at a community college as a control room operator for our interactive television classroom system. We had a 15' C-band dish out back and were watching, and recording on 3/4" video tape, the launch. We were taking this directly from the NASA east satellite feeds - much better technical details than the news media and uninterrupted by news peoples chatter.
A humanities class had just started in the three classrooms in three different cities linked by our microwave system. We control room operators asked the instructor if he and his class would like to watch the launch. He said yes and we threw the satellite signal to all the classrooms. About 60 students between all the sites. The signal was also thrown to a TV in the lobby of the local campus.
We watched the launch through 'go at throttle up' and then the explosion/disintegration/whatever. All the rooms became very quiet. Everyone was shocked. There was a little confusion at first as we all didn't quite understand how bad this was. Sure it exploded, but was the orbiter intact and cabaple of some kind of controlled landing? Were any of the crew alive?
After a time it became clear that this was total destruction and it was unlikely that the crew survived. Twenty minutes after the event, the instructor said "I don't think I feel much like having class today, you're all free to go." Most students agreed and most left. Some stayed to watch the continuing coverage.
We stopped one of the two 3/4" decks that had been recording this event and reviewed the tape frame by frame. In that day, VHS had frame by frame but the resolution and tracking was poor, 3/4" was not quite the best for broadcast standard, but was very clear and would hold a still frame. As we watched carefully, the boss told us to hold at one frame and then went to the screen to point out the plume from the SRB. He said "This doesn't look right, is this supposed to be there?" We looked at the postion of the plume and began to discuss what might have happened.
We came up with two fundamental theories. The first was that the hot gasses from the plume had perforated the External Tank and ignited the LOX or Hydrogen. After looking at the tape several more times, there was a frame where the SRB looked a bit askew. This gave rise to the second theory -- that the lower SRB mount had burned through or broken and the SRB swiveled with the top of the SRB striking the top of the ET and causing the breakup. Damn that NASA video was good.
What irony that months later, the report showed that our second scenario was exactly correct. As just a bunch of low paid wanna-be techies sitting around looking at the event frame by frame, we had gotten the gist of what had happened within an hour after the explosion. I suppose that this exercise was our way of bebriefing and putting off the saddness and trauma until we were ready to handle it.
On the personal side, I have always been really involved in the space program, absorbing everything about it, from the fluff to the technical and I saw it as our future. I spent the next 3 or 4 months in clinical depression after this event. It caused problems with my marriage (we worked it out). I am still sad when I think about the loss of the lives of those brave people and the harm to the space program. I still had confidence that the program would continue though. I would have ridden a launch the very next day, even on the old SRB design.
I got to visit the Cape a few years later and take the tour. As another poster has mentioned, it was a very sobering experience. It was very powerful to be where this event and all the other successes of many years of the manned and unmanned space program had taken place. I was also lucky in that the Shuttle mockup built from the early prototype lifting body was present there in the parking lot on display. One could go up a series of stairs underneath the Shuttle into the cargo bay and they had landings at each of the decks in the crew comparments. The compartments were complete and the had plexiglass walls so you could see the entire area. I spent quite a bit of time studying the details.
The thing that struck me most was that all the panels, electronics, etc. were one-off. We are all so used to manufactured electronics where everything is stamped plastic and identical, and peoples lives don't depend on whether your boom box was well manufactured. I looked at those panels and realized that they were done by some individual. Each connection soldered individually, each panel custom built, each astronauts life dependent on whether the technican was feeling good or had a headache or had a fight with his wife that morning. I felt an intense connection with the seven brave and well trained people who had perished.
I still believe that space is our future. I would still fly if asked (not likely due to age and physical condition).
This is first time I have written about this event since it happened. Sorry if I have rambled, but I'm glad to get it off my chest. I hope that it has been valuable for someone else.
Thanks/. for honoring the people and this program with an article on the anniversary.
I still don't know whether to take this site seriously. It's a weird world we live in.
BTW, how many rounds per minute does an UZI fire? Be nice to know how long you could spray with that 5 foot tall, 300 round UZI clip.
I wonder if they make one of those for.22 full automatics? At 5 feet tall you should be able to fit a thousand rounds. Talk about the ultimate 'heads-down' weapon...
These guys are either serious (in which case, I'm frightened), or they have quite the sense of humor.
I just sent the following to the pillsbury comment site and the mealtimeideas site:
Begin submission ---
Ok guys, this has gone far enough. I fully understand your legal right and responsibility to protect your trademark on "Bake-off", but this has to stop. I am a network administrator for a state agency and have been involved in the computer industry for almost 10 years. Until reading the article posted on slashdot.org today, I had never heard of the term Bake-off used for engineering testing and competition. This just does not have the same impact as the 'Kleenex' and 'Aspirin' issues.
Had I not seen the article, I would have gone blithely along completely unaware that Bake-off (not a word I use in daily conversation) was anything other than a contest by the Pillsbury folk. I sincerely doubt there could be any consumer confusion about the difference between a Pillsbury baking contest and an informal event to test computer hardware and/or software.
I have become more and more concerned in recent times about the problem of creeping corparatism and patent and intellectual property issues. There is a big difference between someone attempting to market a product by co-opting the Bake-off trademark and some engineers getting together to test equipment. Since I heard about the patent of an obvious computer process in the Amazon 'one-click' patent issue, I elected to stop patronizing Amazon.com and let anyone I come in contact with know the reason I had done so. I don't know if I have had any impact on their business, but it really doesn't matter to me, it's an integrity issue.
If I don't hear in the near future that Pillsbury has retracted it's objection to what some small group of engineers have chosen to call their informal testing process, I will have to stop purchasing Pillsbury and related products and let anyone I come in contact with know the reason why. Again, I don't know if it will impact the Pillsbury bottom line, and I don't really care, it's all about integrity.
I'm sure you know that the best advertising is word-of-mouth. But it can also be the worst form of advertising. I make very informed and objective purchasing decisions. Often guided by what others have told me about their experiences and what they have heard about a vendor, company, etc. (after verifying what might be hearsay.) I hope others make these types of decisions as well.
This is only intended to be a statement of my displeasure at what I see as a wholly unreasonable use of corporate power. Please reconsider you actions and leave these poor engineers alone.
Thank you for your time. I'll be keeping my eye on the media to see if should continue to patronize the Pillsbury corporation.
End Submission ---
I will watch to see if they continue this ridiculous course of action. If so, I will follow through. I don't know if my individual decsion will make any difference to them, but a lot of individuals before a significant force with significant impact.
Maybe I'm missing something here, but if I post an item on ebay, complete the auction and then contact the losing bidders to offer addtional, identical items, how in the hell are they going to know that I did so?
What are they going to do, send their protection racket thugs around to my ISP to insist that all my outgoing mail be routed through their Carnivore-like system scanning for any reference to a business transaction? Or are they going to use shills to contact and entice (read: entrap) buyers and sellers to make offline transactions? "Uh-oh, the ebay police are after me, I guess I'd better turn myself in. You *know* what they can do to you with those fire hoses."
It seems this is all style (well, lack thereof) over substance - smoke and mirrors. Ok, there may be people complaining, but as many people have said here, they don't have a legal leg to stand on. I predict that this will cost far more in ill will and lost customers than it saves in fraud.
Just like the government's unwinnable 'war on drugs', ebay should concentrate on truly fraudulent transactions and the like and not waste their energy on this issue.
Is thermoelectric generation being used in this device to capture the waste heat for electricity? I didn't see any reference to the specifics of the heat conversion on the pages. Granted, the efficiencies of TEG are only now approaching 10 - 12% (last info I had), but all that heat is wasted otherwise.
A few years back, I developed a project for microwave repeater stations with one of my sites having no possibility of commercial power available. I picked the project up in the middle after some of the hardware had already been purchased, so I didn't have full latitude to develop the power sources. I also had no previous experience in this field and really no physics background. I had to learn all this 'on the job' and on the fly. If I had it do over again, I would do it differently.
Now, on to the meat:
If I was doing the project again, I would use a TEG for the power source at this site. The site now has 400 sq. ft. of solar cells, a 30Kw propane generator and 3000 amp/hrs of battery capacity (there are a lot of microwave and other radios on the site.) This requires maintenance at least a couple of times a year, quarterly is better. The generator has to be serviced, the propane filled, etc. And the site is inaccessible due to weather for at least 2 months of the year (the top of an 8000' mountain.)
TEG has been used for years with great success. The basics are that TEG is based on thermocouples. Like the opposite of the Peltier effect for you overclockers. Heat is applied to one side of a P-N junction and the other is cool, electrons flow from the junction. These have been used for remote power for many, many years. In doing the research for this project I talked to a tech at a radio station in Montana that had been using a unit to power their remote transmitter for almost 15 years. He said he checked the site once a year and cleaned the orifice on the burner every two years, but it probably wasn't necessary. He said the minimum life expectancy was more than 20 years.
Granted, this doesn't get away from having to provide some kind of fuel to burn at a site, but there are no moving parts, no noise and little environmental impact. And no oil changes for an internal combustion generator. In my research, I found that the TEG burned less fuel than the propane generator also.
If the GE unit isn't using TEG (or some more efficient method) for capturing the waste heat of this process, they should certainly consider it.
I just wonder what kind of power could be recaptured from the waste heat in the average house? I did a google search and saw a unit that replaced (wrapped around) the exhaust stack of a diesel truck and generated up to 1Kw. It was intended to replace the alternator, but I can see all kinds of environment benefits, such as powering the refrigeration unit in a semi trailer without the addition fuel being burned and polluting.
In understand that the upfront cost of TEG is pretty high, but there are certainly good applications for it. I talked to several of the vendors at an alternative energy expo in my town six months ago, and only one of them had ever heard of TEG and he didn't know what exactly it was.
I'm surprized that this technology isn't used more.
Here's a link to a place that was advertising a 27 lb. 5000 watt generator a while back.
There are also links that describe the technology.
This is all the more reason that I use pine to read my mail and reject (>dev/null) most html-only mail I receive.
If I get something really important from one of my friends or acquaintances, I might save and look at it in vi... but not before shooting a return message to educate them that I won't read the next one they send in html-only format.
Remember, there is a special place in hell for those who send html mail.:)
Doesn't part of ToySmart's privacy agreement say that only ToySmart will use the data? So, if it sold the data to a second company who had to live with the privacy agreement, IT (the purchasing company) would not be able to use the data since IT is not ToySmart amd only ToySmart can use the data as per the privacy agreement!
The only way around this is if the provacy statement says "only ToySmart or the company we sell the data too can use the data" which would make it a fairly useless privacy statement.
"I think that if I own my shirt and you borrow it, it doesn't matter whether or not I have another shirt. You're just not entitled to borrow it without my permission."
Hilary, you made my point for me. Are you the manufacturer of the shirt? If so, then you can sell it to me. Then I own it.
If you bought the shirt from the manufacturer and I don't have your permission to borrow it, fine. That's stealing.
If you bought the shirt from the manufacturer and you allow me to borrow it, then no harm, no foul. In this case, if you're the manufacturer, you don't have the right to control what someone does with it after you sell it.
Sorta slippery that she put that "without my permission" thing in there. More spin for the masses. She implies that Napster users don't have the permission of the sender to transfer a file. I thought the whole thing was that you made your files available exactly for that purpose, implicitly giving permission by that action. Oh well, the battle of words and publicity continues...
I think I just saw my IIIx get more valuable on the used market. I don't like the new design at all. I agree that the screen is about as small as it should get to maintain useability. Whether they shrunk the size and/or the resolution -- bad move.
I don't mind a move into a new market demographic, but please oh please continue to make and sell the present models.
I may have to go out and try to find a IIIxe or a Vx soon or start shopping for one on ebay.
Also, I haven't seen anyone address the wireless issue for those of us that don't live in a big city. The VII is right off my list. There is no wireless network here (Flagstaff, AZ) so the price difference is just not worth it. Maybe with a bluetooth adapter to talk to my cell...
And Palm, where are the slots? Expandability is going to be essential.
I see this as an iterim solution on the way to slots and bluetooth wireless. I'll pass thanks.
If I had moderator status, I would moderate this post up as insightful. Of course if I did, then I wouldn't be able to post.:) So I'll add my.02.
You've got it backwards. First came some intellectuals in the corporate/government complex, who decided that the majority should want planned obsolesence and the other halmarks of conspicuous consumption, and programed the culture (via the media and the educational system) accordingly. There have been various counter-movements since, led by other groups of intellectuals who have been resistant to the programming.
That's the big flaw in market worship - the idea that what the majority wants must be best, or at least has some relationship to fulfilling people's genuine wants and needs. The majority wants what they're told to want.
Truer words never spoken.
I need only point the/. crowd at M$ FUD for proof. People most frequently take the easiest path. It's easier to use the browser that came with your system than to take the trouble to download something else. There's also a lot of inertia.
It's like the frog in pot of water, as long as you turn the heat up slowly, he happily cooks to death because he didn't notice what was happening to him.
As long as our rights are removed slowly, insidiously, we never notice. And if the corporations can squelch the dissenters (without too much publicity) we never notice.
Whether one is a terrorist or a freedom fighter depends on which side the observer aligns him or herself. Sure, trashing a McDonalds is an act of vandalism, but it raises awareness. Education is the key, but sometimes education requires shocking action to make people aware of the lesson.
Individualism is a Good Thing (tm). I don't agree that crimes like the murders that the Unabomber committed to bring attention to the Creeping Corparatism are appropriate, but confining oneself to property damamge for publicity may be a necessary thing. (Also see the WIPO Seattle protesters.) If Mr. Bove was involved in the death of the girl at the McDonalds resulting from the bombing, then he has crossed the line.
Also, I'm not sure that McDonalds is the right target ultimately, but it was the target that was representative for his environment/community.
Our freedoms are precious. They have been won by many who were willing to take a stand and risk themselves personally. It's sad to see those freedoms leaching away slowly to Corporate interests. Only by raising these issues, loudly and in as much a public way as we can, is there any chance of keeping those freedoms.
Unfortunately, the legal system is not longer a tool of justice and is instead of tool of the moneyed interests, so we can't count on that to protect us. This battle can only be won in the public forum, with education and activism. People are not moved to change unless something incites them. The doublespeak of 1984 has truly come to pass. People accept what they're told and remain fat, dumb and happy. But it's a happiness born of complancency, not of real peace and joy.
You can not attempt to escape a trap unless you know that you're in it.
Gates is talking about per minute charges. If there is anything I have observed from the society around me (world wide even) it is that per minute charges are about as popular as barium enemas.
We in the US pay for our local telephone service as a flat fee with unlimited local minutes. This has been the paradigm for a very long time. Whenever The Phone Company (of old) tried to offer per minute use plans they were a great flop.
I hear all the time of people in Autralia or Europe bemoaning the per minute charges there. They would jump on the opportunity that we have here.
What makes Bill think that people are going to pay by the minute or by the document to use an app across the wire? Performance will be slow, especially across 56k and in the end you have have to leave your document on an unsecure (although they claim it's secure) Microsoft server.
I don't know if there is enough marketing savvy (Read: FUD) in the world for MS to pull this off.
Besides, Apple already has this up and running (on the storage end anyway) and I think that other companies that have had the lead time on this issue will be able to deliver long before MS.
Of course they could just be planning to attempt to monopolize the Application Services and other markets... Nah, they'd never do anything like that.
"If a company puts a warrenty on their software they need to back up that warrenty if they didnt do what you paid them to do."
I agree fully, however...
"commercial apps (which cost beaucoup cash) do have a warrenty (sic) and therefore ought to be responsible for doing their jobs."
Oh, would that it were true...
Even if commercial apps come with a warranty, they also come with End User License Agreements (EULA) which turn right around and disclaim any liability.
And with the DMCA and UCITA, the companies are trying to codify this lack of liability (read: responsibility).
Seriously, when have we seen a case where someone who was harmed by a computer product has successfully forced the company to take responsibility? You might find a couple of such events, but I consider it unlikely.
Microsoft has built poor quality, buggy software for years that, by it's very design has security holes, is full of bugs and pretty much does whatever it (they) damn well please(s). It doesn't even do what you tell it to do, let alone what it says it will do.
I seem to remember installing Win95 and telling the installer not to install MSN... and whattya know, install is finished and there is a big shiny icon right on the desktop for MSN. And try to avoid installing IE on any of the newer products without going through the gyrations of having to download 98lite, get an old CD of 95, etc., etc.
In any other industry, lawsuits would instantly drive the company into bankruptcy. But not Microsoft (and other software manufacturers), because a shrinkwrap license and EULA says that they are not responsible.
My Win95 example is not an example of just negligence where there might be a gray area, it's out right fraud. They want you to have something on your desktop whether you want it or not. If we are a country based in law, how come someone has the ability to contract away their liability for fraud? And why aren't more people jumping up and down about it?
For example: If Ford were to manufacture a car with air bags and an explicit warning that they will go off in a front impact at 35 mph, yet they designed the system to go off at 25 mph (for the drivers safety) and they had a disclaimer (EULA) in the owner's manual that said they were not responsible if the air bag goes off at 25, would they not be guilty of fraud? Could you not sue the hell out of them?
I guess Ford hasn't given enough money to legislators to have law passed specifically exempting cars from having to perform as advertised.
Yes, some people pay for MS software thinking that they have some recourse if it fails to perform as advertised. (Others pay for it because they don't have a choice.) But of those companies which have attempted to recover damages when (note: not if, when) it fails to perform, have any actually been successful? I can't even get a refund from an OEM hardware manufacturer when I don't want to use the preloaded MS products... and can't buy their hardware without the MS product in question preinstalled. (I know that this is changing somewhat in that I can get Linux preloaded from some OEM's but the problem is still widespread.)
In short, companies warrant software and then remove their liability in the EULA. This is the same as having no warranty at all.
At least the GPL is up front about it.:)
Actually, wouldn't it be at least misrepresentation if not outright fraud to state that you have rights under warranty when the EULA says that you do not?
I'm not into thrash metal and therefore wouldn't ever have bought or downloaded any Metallica. The saddest part of this is that my boycott of this particular band won't have significant effect.:(
Actually, a friend of mine told me just Saturday about their latest album which he said was backed up by some symphony orchestra. I'm not necessarily a classical music fan either, but, based on the moderating influence of a lot of pieces in the symphony I was thinking of giving it a listen... oh well.
For those of us to whom it applies, vote with your feet. Boycott those who don't recognize that the earth is round , mp3s are here to stay, and a new distribution model is fait accompli. They can only hurt their regular channel sales with their current mindset and lawsuits. I only wish I was going to be near a machine tonight at 5 pm for the chat to tell them what I think... Of course, there will probably be plenty of people there to express my opinion for me.:)
I particularly liked another post that suggested sending the $15 check directly to the band based on mp3 downloads of the album. Enough of those would get their attention.
Even if it's a band I like, my future purchase of their material will end if they pull a stunt like this.
"You will be able to view a protected lyrics document, but will not be able to print the lyrics."
Hmmm... I wonder what kind of technological marvel they have created which will prevent me from cutting and pasting the lyrics I am viewing on screen to another document and then printing them?
I went to lyrics.ch (now songfiles or something like that) and saw that hey had this "you have to download some app or plug-in and accept some secure cookie" crap. I am not willing to do any shit like that. And I'm using a Mac right now, so the instructions/gyrations were even more complicated.
I'm glad to see this new site up and I hope that they will withstand the legal and political pressure and refuse to capitulate.
The longer term solution (one which I wish had been implemented in the lyrics.ch issure, but hindsight is 20/20) is to make the mySQL database of all these lyrics publicly accesible as a giant tarball and mirror the hell out of it. It worked quit well for DeCSS. Once the cat is outta the bag, you can't put him back in. Imagine, 100, 1000, or even 10,000 sites mirroring this data. They can't sue us all, and we can move it around.
To the operators of the site: Please make the entire database available for public, anonymous FTP. We'll mirror it and make sure that it can't be taken away.
I really like the 'data haven' idea, is there one of the nouveau riche IPO recipients that would like to buy us an island somewhere in international waters? I'd volunteer to go work there.:)
BTW, does anybody remember that this (like the IMDB) started as a series of usenet posts that someone just collected into one location/database?
I wouldn't hurt to regularly repost the tarball on rec.arts.music. just like the FAQ's for the newsgroup.
It is *so* unfortunate that this is true. Hardly any issue can be won on substance or common sense any more.
The very twisted version of the Golden Rule now applies: "He who has the gold, makes the rules."
I really wonder if we are seeing the decline of civilization as we know it? I know that sounds a little extremist, but we run a great risk of becoming a homogenized, bland and useless species if we let corporate interests win over human interaction.
Slashdot Mirror
I don't know about that, look to the DMCA. It allegedly made circumvention software - and reverse engineering - illegal. I still see a lot of circumvention taking place, and reverse engineering hasn't stopped.
The corporate oligopolies could probably make ad circumvention illegal, but is the public going to agree to this part of the social contract? If they succeed in this, it will just be another uneforceable law on the books that will be ignored by most, prosecuted rarely and continue to degrade any possibility of respect for all laws. I would lump it in the same category as cohabitation, prostitution and gambling.
I don't remember who said it, but "Nothing breeds contempt for the law like passing laws which are unenforceable."
you'd better make sure it's an original tune. And don't even think of any lyrics, or Harry Fox himself will come, unbidden, into your mind - ala Freddy Kruger - to force you to write him a check.
I would put a smiley on this post, but the possibility of these things coming true is so close as to be more frightening than any horror movie.
*** Da Da Da Dum, De De De Dum *** -- at least this is in the public domain.
As a former Novell 3.x and 4.x Admin, this is consistent with my experiences. With the exception of a month or so of problems with ver 4.01, waiting for patches for some serious bugs, Novell was the most reliable server I have ever administered. The learning curve to admin the things was a little steep, but then again, it was my first admin experience. They do make a fine product.
*What follows might be OT*
On the drywall issue, my Grandfather was a painter (house and signs) for 40 years. He tells of painting the interiors of a huge tract of new homes.
There were 3 or 4 different floor plans, but within each plan, the houses were identical. He began painting a living room in one house and noted a framed box about 12 inches cubed on the floor and up against the wall. It had been drywalled, taped, textured and sanded - ready to paint, but it's presence was totally different from each of the other houses of that model.
His curiosity got the best of him, and even though the drywall crews would have to come back and redo this area, he went and got a claw hammer to rip the box out. Inside he found the sweepings from the carpenters; sawdust, wood chips, etc. It seems they had swept the trash up against the wall, then framed around it. The drywallers went along with the gag and drywalled and prepped it.
Not a mistake, maybe not laziness, but definitely a good gag. Maybe the carpenters were from MIT?
Why do they do this? Yup, chasing the buck with proprietary "innovations".
.wav files which the HotSync won't transfer, but the Pro will play if they're on the CF card.)
I have had a Palm IIIx (only 4Mb) for a year and a half. The last 6 months or better I have been salivating for a TRGPro. Same specs as the Palm IIIxe (8Mb ram) but with a compact flash slot on the back. It's form factor is identical to the III series except for a 1mm raised area on the back to make room for the CF slot. The speaker is louder and it can do multifrequency sound.
This thing is wonderful. I got a 16 Mb CF card for it for $40.00. The CFBackup software that comes with the Pro allows a one tap backup of your ram as a monolithic file (a la Ghost). The CFPro software allows you to transfer files back and forth from ram to CF, and AutoCF allows the PalmOS to directly access apps or databases on the CF card transparently as if they were in the memory.
My next purchase is a USB CF card reader which I will plug into my old PowerMac 7600 and be able to transfer files directly to the CF card without having to sync them through the PalmOS (necessary for
The CF card uses DOS file structure and naming conventions (restrictions?) but I can live with that.
In addition to memory, the Pro is compatible with CF cards that provide modems, bar code wands, and even IBM's 1Gb Microdrive ($459, so I don't think I'll be getting one, but it's nice to know it can be done.) No GPS yet, but I'm sure someone will do it.
I didn't buy my Pro until I saw it in the local Sam's Club for $249. TRG's site had them at $329 forever, they have now dropped to $299.
In short, there is another option from the memory sticks, Springboards, etc.
I recommend the TRGPro highly.
The point keeps being made that the weak link in this chain is that the centralized server is operated as a business, that some sort of financial transaction is being made resulting in money flowing to the operator of the server.
How about these scenarios:
Scenario 1:
Some wealthy individual interested in upholding the constitutional provisions of fair use puts enough capital in an interest-bearing account (yes, in Switzerland or the Caymans) to pay the bill for Sealand or to pay for hosting in a number of places and/or rotate the service to new countries as it gets knocked down by the various legal systems. Or before it gets knocked down - staying one step ahead.
This would take the money issue out of it entirely. Is there any legal standing by the RIAA to knock this (these) server(s) down since no profit is being made and no money is transferred anywhere other than to the hosting service(s) as gift from a wealthy benefactor?
Scenario 2 (less likely):
Sealand decides to host the service out of the good of their hearts as a gift to the community. Again, no profit is made, no money changes hands at all. And the individual responsible for the hosting doesn't live in a country vulnerable to US law or trade pressures. Ok, this one forces the issue of the sovreignty of Sealand, and an argument could be made that hosting this service could be considered advertising for their other services.
Anyway, I'd like to hear what the legal issues are surrounding this. Any legal folks want to weigh in?
I have two checking accounts, one tied to a debit card, one not.
When a credit card number is stolen, the cardholder is only responsible for the first $50.00 of fraudulent charges.
When a debit card number is stolen, the thief can drain the account (whatever the balance is) and you have little hope of getting any of it back.
Sounds like a credit card is the way to go, right? Well, generally I would say yes, but how about those whose credit is poor or don't want to pay interest charges and fees?
Here's how I work it. I know that my checking account tied to the debit card is vulnerable so I don't keep very much in it - only what I can afford to lose if I am defrauded. When I need to make a purchase online, I first go to my online banking site and transfer the amount I need for the online purchase and then use the debit card for the purchase. Money goes in, money goes out, the balance stays low.
If someone compromises the database containing my debit card number they will only get $100.00 or less and I can close that checking account and start a new one tied to a new debit card number. No fighting with the bank or a vendor about unauthorized charges, I take my licks and get out. Sure, I might lose a little more than the $50.00, but to avoid the hassles it's worth it. I can only lose what's in that account so I keep it low and keep my exposure low.
The two accounts are completely separate. I have no checks to use with the debit card account and no debit card tied to the account I use to write checks. This doesn't fully protect me from identity theft, but makes it tougher on the thief.
Thanks for your observation as a decent review. :)
Ok, point taken. I just felt that the additional disabilities and pain that Verger experienced in the book gave a more *intense* motivation to his character. In the movie, other than being disfigured, the wheelchair and having the memories of the experience with Lecter, it seemed that Mason wasn't much impaired from functioning in daily life. He was clear headed and continued to carry on his business activities. Ok, maybe he had no social life and there were those that were turned off or disgusted by his appearance, but that didn't much seem to matter to him except to shock people.
When I read the book, I thought of the quadraplegic Lincoln Rhyme character from Bone Collector, but with hideous disfigurement as well. If I remember correctly from the book, Verger controlled all his equipment with breath and voice control and he used a respirator to even survive. At least Rhyme had some use of his index finger and didn't frighten people who looked at him.
I do accept your point and I'm not trying to pick it apart, I just think that my observation was about the *intense* degree of hatred caused by his *intense* disfigurment and impairment. Of course that's just how I interpreted the book.
Thanks for your observations.
I read the book. I didn't like the movie.
:)
As mentioned by another poster, there were many elements of the book that were left out of the movie that I feel were essential to fleshing out (if you'll pardon the expression) the plot and character motivations. Most greivous was the omission of Lecter's childhood experiences with his sister. In the book, this helped me to understand Lecter's twisted motives.
Sure, there was gore, but other than the brain scene, it was all more low-key and less graphic than many other movies I have seen. The gore wasn't even particularly well done in most scenes. Maybe I'm jaded by having read the book first and letting my imagination work away. There was more close up, gut-spilling action in Starship Troopers, for example. BTW, Starship troopers sucked the big green donkey dong in my opinion.
In the book, Mason Verger was confined to his bed, his body "wasted away" and his face far more deformed than Gary Oldman's makeup indicated. And where was that funky eye cup/lens that kept his one remaining eye lubricated? Verger's mobility also bothered me. In the book, he had far more motivation for his hatred for Lecter.
Verger's sister and her circumstances were a really interesting plot element. I understand the necessity for keeping the whole thing within the two hour time-frame, but I would much rather have seen her story and a little less of the stuff in Italy.
When I read the book, I was shocked at the ending, but the more I thought about how it had been accomplished, it fit right into Lecter's motivation and skill set, and made a good statement about the pliability of the human mind (if you'll pardon the Ray Liotta pun); especially if one (Clarice) already had the love/hate-attractiveness/repulsion thing going for Lecter (which was not developed clearly, if at all in the movie.)
Changing the ending so drastically from the book just soured my totally on the movie. It appears that this was a blatant ploy to leave things open for the easy sequel or two or three. Once again, commercialism won out over staying true to the author's story.
On the whole, I wouldn't reccommend seeing it, especially if you read the book first and liked it. My experience might have been better had I seen the movie first and then read the book.
I really liked this review at Salon, except for Charles Taylor's (reviewer) criticism of Harris.
If you haven't already seen it, do rent and see "Manhunter". This was based on Harris' first book Red Dragon. I liked Manhunter much better than Hannibal. I also liked the Lecter character better in Manhunter.
Just my completely unsolicited opinion.
Here is the procedure for creating a Trademark Stick (TM)(Pat. Pend.)
/me grants any natural person (not corporations) permanent and non-exclusive right to use the name Trademark Stick (TM)(Pat. Pend.) and manufacture Trademark Stick (TM)(Pat. Pend.) in furtherance of the education of the clueless, or for any purpose whatsoever.
Acquire a cylindrical object approximately 1 meter long and between 2.5 and 10 centimeters in diameter.
Said cylindrical object should be made out of hardwood or metal. The heavier the better.
Affix several strips of cloth tape to one end to ensure a good grip.
Trademark Stick (TM)(Pat. Pend.) is used to "educate" clueless USPTO employees, lawyers and others who believe it is possible and appropriate to trademark such common words as "the", "an", "it"; state names, like Kentucky (TM), and individual's surnames.
Any similarity between Trademark Stick (TM)(Pat. Pend.) and Cluestick (TM) are in the mind of the observer and not valid as prior art.
In return for general good feelings toward ones fellow human beings (except the clueless),
This exchange of consideration shall be considered a transaction for the purpose of establishing the commerce requirement of the pending Trademark Registration (TM) of this product.
I understand your pride at rapidly determining "the cause" of the breakup, but really all you identified was the endgame sequence --
Good point. We certainly didn't know the reason for the O-ring failure, or for that matter, didn't know that the SRB's *had* O-rings. We didn't know the specifics of the SRB construction at that point, all that came later with the discussions.
Thanks.
On that sad day, I was working at a community college as a control room operator for our interactive television classroom system. We had a 15' C-band dish out back and were watching, and recording on 3/4" video tape, the launch. We were taking this directly from the NASA east satellite feeds - much better technical details than the news media and uninterrupted by news peoples chatter.
/. for honoring the people and this program with an article on the anniversary.
A humanities class had just started in the three classrooms in three different cities linked by our microwave system. We control room operators asked the instructor if he and his class would like to watch the launch. He said yes and we threw the satellite signal to all the classrooms. About 60 students between all the sites. The signal was also thrown to a TV in the lobby of the local campus.
We watched the launch through 'go at throttle up' and then the explosion/disintegration/whatever. All the rooms became very quiet. Everyone was shocked. There was a little confusion at first as we all didn't quite understand how bad this was. Sure it exploded, but was the orbiter intact and cabaple of some kind of controlled landing? Were any of the crew alive?
After a time it became clear that this was total destruction and it was unlikely that the crew survived. Twenty minutes after the event, the instructor said "I don't think I feel much like having class today, you're all free to go." Most students agreed and most left. Some stayed to watch the continuing coverage.
We stopped one of the two 3/4" decks that had been recording this event and reviewed the tape frame by frame. In that day, VHS had frame by frame but the resolution and tracking was poor, 3/4" was not quite the best for broadcast standard, but was very clear and would hold a still frame. As we watched carefully, the boss told us to hold at one frame and then went to the screen to point out the plume from the SRB. He said "This doesn't look right, is this supposed to be there?" We looked at the postion of the plume and began to discuss what might have happened.
We came up with two fundamental theories. The first was that the hot gasses from the plume had perforated the External Tank and ignited the LOX or Hydrogen. After looking at the tape several more times, there was a frame where the SRB looked a bit askew. This gave rise to the second theory -- that the lower SRB mount had burned through or broken and the SRB swiveled with the top of the SRB striking the top of the ET and causing the breakup. Damn that NASA video was good.
What irony that months later, the report showed that our second scenario was exactly correct. As just a bunch of low paid wanna-be techies sitting around looking at the event frame by frame, we had gotten the gist of what had happened within an hour after the explosion. I suppose that this exercise was our way of bebriefing and putting off the saddness and trauma until we were ready to handle it.
On the personal side, I have always been really involved in the space program, absorbing everything about it, from the fluff to the technical and I saw it as our future. I spent the next 3 or 4 months in clinical depression after this event. It caused problems with my marriage (we worked it out). I am still sad when I think about the loss of the lives of those brave people and the harm to the space program. I still had confidence that the program would continue though. I would have ridden a launch the very next day, even on the old SRB design.
I got to visit the Cape a few years later and take the tour. As another poster has mentioned, it was a very sobering experience. It was very powerful to be where this event and all the other successes of many years of the manned and unmanned space program had taken place. I was also lucky in that the Shuttle mockup built from the early prototype lifting body was present there in the parking lot on display. One could go up a series of stairs underneath the Shuttle into the cargo bay and they had landings at each of the decks in the crew comparments. The compartments were complete and the had plexiglass walls so you could see the entire area. I spent quite a bit of time studying the details.
The thing that struck me most was that all the panels, electronics, etc. were one-off. We are all so used to manufactured electronics where everything is stamped plastic and identical, and peoples lives don't depend on whether your boom box was well manufactured. I looked at those panels and realized that they were done by some individual. Each connection soldered individually, each panel custom built, each astronauts life dependent on whether the technican was feeling good or had a headache or had a fight with his wife that morning. I felt an intense connection with the seven brave and well trained people who had perished.
I still believe that space is our future. I would still fly if asked (not likely due to age and physical condition).
This is first time I have written about this event since it happened. Sorry if I have rambled, but I'm glad to get it off my chest. I hope that it has been valuable for someone else.
Thanks
Russ
I still don't know whether to take this site seriously. It's a weird world we live in.
.22 full automatics? At 5 feet tall you should be able to fit a thousand rounds. Talk about the ultimate 'heads-down' weapon...
BTW, how many rounds per minute does an UZI fire? Be nice to know how long you could spray with that 5 foot tall, 300 round UZI clip.
I wonder if they make one of those for
These guys are either serious (in which case, I'm frightened), or they have quite the sense of humor.
I just sent the following to the pillsbury comment site and the mealtimeideas site:
Begin submission ---
Ok guys, this has gone far enough. I fully understand your legal right and responsibility to protect your trademark on "Bake-off", but this has to stop. I am a network administrator for a state agency and have been involved in the computer industry for almost 10 years. Until reading the article posted on slashdot.org today, I had never heard of the term Bake-off used for engineering testing and competition. This just does not have the same impact as the 'Kleenex' and 'Aspirin' issues.
Had I not seen the article, I would have gone blithely along completely unaware that Bake-off (not a word I use in daily conversation) was anything other than a contest by the Pillsbury folk. I sincerely doubt there could be any consumer confusion about the difference between a Pillsbury baking contest and an informal event to test computer hardware and/or software.
I have become more and more concerned in recent times about the problem of creeping corparatism and patent and intellectual property issues. There is a big difference between someone attempting to market a product by co-opting the Bake-off trademark and some engineers getting together to test equipment. Since I heard about the patent of an obvious computer process in the Amazon 'one-click' patent issue, I elected to stop patronizing Amazon.com and let anyone I come in contact with know the reason I had done so. I don't know if I have had any impact on their business, but it really doesn't matter to me, it's an integrity issue.
If I don't hear in the near future that Pillsbury has retracted it's objection to what some small group of engineers have chosen to call their informal testing process, I will have to stop purchasing Pillsbury and related products and let anyone I come in contact with know the reason why. Again, I don't know if it will impact the Pillsbury bottom line, and I don't really care, it's all about integrity.
I'm sure you know that the best advertising is word-of-mouth. But it can also be the worst form of advertising. I make very informed and objective purchasing decisions. Often guided by what others have told me about their experiences and what they have heard about a vendor, company, etc. (after verifying what might be hearsay.) I hope others make these types of decisions as well.
This is only intended to be a statement of my displeasure at what I see as a wholly unreasonable use of corporate power. Please reconsider you actions and leave these poor engineers alone.
Thank you for your time. I'll be keeping my eye on the media to see if should continue to patronize the Pillsbury corporation.
End Submission ---
I will watch to see if they continue this ridiculous course of action. If so, I will follow through. I don't know if my individual decsion will make any difference to them, but a lot of individuals before a significant force with significant impact.
Maybe I'm missing something here, but if I post an item on ebay, complete the auction and then contact the losing bidders to offer addtional, identical items, how in the hell are they going to know that I did so?
What are they going to do, send their protection racket thugs around to my ISP to insist that all my outgoing mail be routed through their Carnivore-like system scanning for any reference to a business transaction? Or are they going to use shills to contact and entice (read: entrap) buyers and sellers to make offline transactions? "Uh-oh, the ebay police are after me, I guess I'd better turn myself in. You *know* what they can do to you with those fire hoses."
It seems this is all style (well, lack thereof) over substance - smoke and mirrors. Ok, there may be people complaining, but as many people have said here, they don't have a legal leg to stand on. I predict that this will cost far more in ill will and lost customers than it saves in fraud.
Just like the government's unwinnable 'war on drugs', ebay should concentrate on truly fraudulent transactions and the like and not waste their energy on this issue.
Is thermoelectric generation being used in this device to capture the waste heat for electricity? I didn't see any reference to the specifics of the heat conversion on the pages. Granted, the efficiencies of TEG are only now approaching 10 - 12% (last info I had), but all that heat is wasted otherwise.
A few years back, I developed a project for microwave repeater stations with one of my sites having no possibility of commercial power available. I picked the project up in the middle after some of the hardware had already been purchased, so I didn't have full latitude to develop the power sources. I also had no previous experience in this field and really no physics background. I had to learn all this 'on the job' and on the fly. If I had it do over again, I would do it differently.
Now, on to the meat:
If I was doing the project again, I would use a TEG for the power source at this site. The site now has 400 sq. ft. of solar cells, a 30Kw propane generator and 3000 amp/hrs of battery capacity (there are a lot of microwave and other radios on the site.) This requires maintenance at least a couple of times a year, quarterly is better. The generator has to be serviced, the propane filled, etc. And the site is inaccessible due to weather for at least 2 months of the year (the top of an 8000' mountain.)
TEG has been used for years with great success. The basics are that TEG is based on thermocouples. Like the opposite of the Peltier effect for you overclockers. Heat is applied to one side of a P-N junction and the other is cool, electrons flow from the junction. These have been used for remote power for many, many years. In doing the research for this project I talked to a tech at a radio station in Montana that had been using a unit to power their remote transmitter for almost 15 years. He said he checked the site once a year and cleaned the orifice on the burner every two years, but it probably wasn't necessary. He said the minimum life expectancy was more than 20 years.
Granted, this doesn't get away from having to provide some kind of fuel to burn at a site, but there are no moving parts, no noise and little environmental impact. And no oil changes for an internal combustion generator. In my research, I found that the TEG burned less fuel than the propane generator also.
If the GE unit isn't using TEG (or some more efficient method) for capturing the waste heat of this process, they should certainly consider it.
I just wonder what kind of power could be recaptured from the waste heat in the average house? I did a google search and saw a unit that replaced (wrapped around) the exhaust stack of a diesel truck and generated up to 1Kw. It was intended to replace the alternator, but I can see all kinds of environment benefits, such as powering the refrigeration unit in a semi trailer without the addition fuel being burned and polluting.
In understand that the upfront cost of TEG is pretty high, but there are certainly good applications for it. I talked to several of the vendors at an alternative energy expo in my town six months ago, and only one of them had ever heard of TEG and he didn't know what exactly it was.
I'm surprized that this technology isn't used more.
Here's a link to a place that was advertising a 27 lb. 5000 watt generator a while back.
There are also links that describe the technology.
This is all the more reason that I use pine to read my mail and reject (>dev/null) most html-only mail I receive.
:)
If I get something really important from one of my friends or acquaintances, I might save and look at it in vi... but not before shooting a return message to educate them that I won't read the next one they send in html-only format.
Remember, there is a special place in hell for those who send html mail.
Doesn't part of ToySmart's privacy agreement say that only ToySmart will use the data? So, if it sold the data to a second company who had to live with the privacy agreement, IT (the purchasing company) would not be able to use the data since IT is not ToySmart amd only ToySmart can use the data as per the privacy agreement!
The only way around this is if the provacy statement says "only ToySmart or the company we sell the data too can use the data" which would make it a fairly useless privacy statement.
Hilary Rosen's quote:
.02
"I think that if I own my shirt and you borrow it, it doesn't matter whether or not I have another shirt. You're just not entitled to borrow it without my permission."
Hilary, you made my point for me. Are you the manufacturer of the shirt? If so, then you can sell it to me. Then I own it.
If you bought the shirt from the manufacturer and I don't have your permission to borrow it, fine. That's stealing.
If you bought the shirt from the manufacturer and you allow me to borrow it, then no harm, no foul. In this case, if you're the manufacturer, you don't have the right to control what someone does with it after you sell it.
Sorta slippery that she put that "without my permission" thing in there. More spin for the masses. She implies that Napster users don't have the permission of the sender to transfer a file. I thought the whole thing was that you made your files available exactly for that purpose, implicitly giving permission by that action. Oh well, the battle of words and publicity continues...
Just my
I think I just saw my IIIx get more valuable on the used market. I don't like the new design at all. I agree that the screen is about as small as it should get to maintain useability. Whether they shrunk the size and/or the resolution -- bad move.
I don't mind a move into a new market demographic, but please oh please continue to make and sell the present models.
I may have to go out and try to find a IIIxe or a Vx soon or start shopping for one on ebay.
Also, I haven't seen anyone address the wireless issue for those of us that don't live in a big city. The VII is right off my list. There is no wireless network here (Flagstaff, AZ) so the price difference is just not worth it. Maybe with a bluetooth adapter to talk to my cell...
And Palm, where are the slots? Expandability is going to be essential.
I see this as an iterim solution on the way to slots and bluetooth wireless. I'll pass thanks.
You've got it backwards. First came some intellectuals in the corporate/government complex, who decided that the majority should want planned obsolesence and the other halmarks of conspicuous consumption, and programed the culture (via the media and the educational system) accordingly. There have been various counter-movements since, led by other groups of intellectuals who have been resistant to the programming.
That's the big flaw in market worship - the idea that what the majority wants must be best, or at least has some relationship to fulfilling people's genuine wants and needs. The majority wants what they're told to want.
Truer words never spoken.
I need only point the /. crowd at M$ FUD for proof. People most frequently take the easiest path. It's easier to use the browser that came with your system than to take the trouble to download something else. There's also a lot of inertia.
It's like the frog in pot of water, as long as you turn the heat up slowly, he happily cooks to death because he didn't notice what was happening to him.
As long as our rights are removed slowly, insidiously, we never notice. And if the corporations can squelch the dissenters (without too much publicity) we never notice.
Whether one is a terrorist or a freedom fighter depends on which side the observer aligns him or herself. Sure, trashing a McDonalds is an act of vandalism, but it raises awareness. Education is the key, but sometimes education requires shocking action to make people aware of the lesson.
Individualism is a Good Thing (tm). I don't agree that crimes like the murders that the Unabomber committed to bring attention to the Creeping Corparatism are appropriate, but confining oneself to property damamge for publicity may be a necessary thing. (Also see the WIPO Seattle protesters.) If Mr. Bove was involved in the death of the girl at the McDonalds resulting from the bombing, then he has crossed the line.
Also, I'm not sure that McDonalds is the right target ultimately, but it was the target that was representative for his environment/community.
Our freedoms are precious. They have been won by many who were willing to take a stand and risk themselves personally. It's sad to see those freedoms leaching away slowly to Corporate interests. Only by raising these issues, loudly and in as much a public way as we can, is there any chance of keeping those freedoms.
Unfortunately, the legal system is not longer a tool of justice and is instead of tool of the moneyed interests, so we can't count on that to protect us. This battle can only be won in the public forum, with education and activism. People are not moved to change unless something incites them. The doublespeak of 1984 has truly come to pass. People accept what they're told and remain fat, dumb and happy. But it's a happiness born of complancency, not of real peace and joy.
You can not attempt to escape a trap unless you know that you're in it.
Russ
Gates is talking about per minute charges. If there is anything I have observed from the society around me (world wide even) it is that per minute charges are about as popular as barium enemas.
We in the US pay for our local telephone service as a flat fee with unlimited local minutes. This has been the paradigm for a very long time. Whenever The Phone Company (of old) tried to offer per minute use plans they were a great flop.
I hear all the time of people in Autralia or Europe bemoaning the per minute charges there. They would jump on the opportunity that we have here.
What makes Bill think that people are going to pay by the minute or by the document to use an app across the wire? Performance will be slow, especially across 56k and in the end you have have to leave your document on an unsecure (although they claim it's secure) Microsoft server.
I don't know if there is enough marketing savvy (Read: FUD) in the world for MS to pull this off.
Besides, Apple already has this up and running (on the storage end anyway) and I think that other companies that have had the lead time on this issue will be able to deliver long before MS.
Of course they could just be planning to attempt to monopolize the Application Services and other markets... Nah, they'd never do anything like that.
Russ
(standard disclaimer - IANAL)
:)
"If a company puts a warrenty on their software they need to back up that warrenty if they didnt do what you paid them to do."
I agree fully, however...
"commercial apps (which cost beaucoup cash) do have a warrenty (sic) and therefore ought to be responsible for doing their jobs."
Oh, would that it were true...
Even if commercial apps come with a warranty, they also come with End User License Agreements (EULA) which turn right around and disclaim any liability.
And with the DMCA and UCITA, the companies are trying to codify this lack of liability (read: responsibility).
Seriously, when have we seen a case where someone who was harmed by a computer product has successfully forced the company to take responsibility? You might find a couple of such events, but I consider it unlikely.
Microsoft has built poor quality, buggy software for years that, by it's very design has security holes, is full of bugs and pretty much does whatever it (they) damn well please(s). It doesn't even do what you tell it to do, let alone what it says it will do.
I seem to remember installing Win95 and telling the installer not to install MSN... and whattya know, install is finished and there is a big shiny icon right on the desktop for MSN. And try to avoid installing IE on any of the newer products without going through the gyrations of having to download 98lite, get an old CD of 95, etc., etc.
In any other industry, lawsuits would instantly drive the company into bankruptcy. But not Microsoft (and other software manufacturers), because a shrinkwrap license and EULA says that they are not responsible.
My Win95 example is not an example of just negligence where there might be a gray area, it's out right fraud. They want you to have something on your desktop whether you want it or not. If we are a country based in law, how come someone has the ability to contract away their liability for fraud? And why aren't more people jumping up and down about it?
For example: If Ford were to manufacture a car with air bags and an explicit warning that they will go off in a front impact at 35 mph, yet they designed the system to go off at 25 mph (for the drivers safety) and they had a disclaimer (EULA) in the owner's manual that said they were not responsible if the air bag goes off at 25, would they not be guilty of fraud? Could you not sue the hell out of them?
I guess Ford hasn't given enough money to legislators to have law passed specifically exempting cars from having to perform as advertised.
Yes, some people pay for MS software thinking that they have some recourse if it fails to perform as advertised. (Others pay for it because they don't have a choice.) But of those companies which have attempted to recover damages when (note: not if, when) it fails to perform, have any actually been successful? I can't even get a refund from an OEM hardware manufacturer when I don't want to use the preloaded MS products... and can't buy their hardware without the MS product in question preinstalled.
(I know that this is changing somewhat in that I can get Linux preloaded from some OEM's but the problem is still widespread.)
In short, companies warrant software and then remove their liability in the EULA. This is the same as having no warranty at all.
At least the GPL is up front about it.
Actually, wouldn't it be at least misrepresentation if not outright fraud to state that you have rights under warranty when the EULA says that you do not?
What a sad state of affairs this is.
Russ
I don't mean to start a flame war, but...
:(
:)
:)
I'm not into thrash metal and therefore wouldn't ever have bought or downloaded any Metallica. The saddest part of this is that my boycott of this particular band won't have significant effect.
Actually, a friend of mine told me just Saturday about their latest album which he said was backed up by some symphony orchestra. I'm not necessarily a classical music fan either, but, based on the moderating influence of a lot of pieces in the symphony I was thinking of giving it a listen... oh well.
For those of us to whom it applies, vote with your feet. Boycott those who don't recognize that the earth is round , mp3s are here to stay, and a new distribution model is fait accompli. They can only hurt their regular channel sales with their current mindset and lawsuits. I only wish I was going to be near a machine tonight at 5 pm for the chat to tell them what I think... Of course, there will probably be plenty of people there to express my opinion for me.
I particularly liked another post that suggested sending the $15 check directly to the band based on mp3 downloads of the album. Enough of those would get their attention.
Even if it's a band I like, my future purchase of their material will end if they pull a stunt like this.
Good thing I don't like rap either.
Russ
"You will be able to view a protected lyrics document, but will not be able to print the lyrics."
:)
Hmmm... I wonder what kind of technological marvel they have created which will prevent me from cutting and pasting the lyrics I am viewing on screen to another document and then printing them?
I went to lyrics.ch (now songfiles or something like that) and saw that hey had this "you have to download some app or plug-in and accept some secure cookie" crap. I am not willing to do any shit like that. And I'm using a Mac right now, so the instructions/gyrations were even more complicated.
I'm glad to see this new site up and I hope that they will withstand the legal and political pressure and refuse to capitulate.
The longer term solution (one which I wish had been implemented in the lyrics.ch issure, but hindsight is 20/20) is to make the mySQL database of all these lyrics publicly accesible as a giant tarball and mirror the hell out of it. It worked quit well for DeCSS. Once the cat is outta the bag, you can't put him back in. Imagine, 100, 1000, or even 10,000 sites mirroring this data. They can't sue us all, and we can move it around.
To the operators of the site: Please make the entire database available for public, anonymous FTP. We'll mirror it and make sure that it can't be taken away.
I really like the 'data haven' idea, is there one of the nouveau riche IPO recipients that would like to buy us an island somewhere in international waters? I'd volunteer to go work there.
BTW, does anybody remember that this (like the IMDB) started as a series of usenet posts that someone just collected into one location/database?
I wouldn't hurt to regularly repost the tarball on rec.arts.music. just like the FAQ's for the newsgroup.
Let's not let it get away this time!
Russ
It is *so* unfortunate that this is true. Hardly any issue can be won on substance or common sense any more.
The very twisted version of the Golden Rule now applies:
"He who has the gold, makes the rules."
I really wonder if we are seeing the decline of civilization as we know it? I know that sounds a little extremist, but we run a great risk of becoming a homogenized, bland and useless species if we let corporate interests win over human interaction.
Russ