I would like to respond to the article's citation to the costs of producing a CD and a movie.
I believe it cited 250,000 dollars for a CD and 20 million for a movie.
I talked about this with a friend who is doing a CD for a chorus. He said that the studio rental and editing costs were about $20,000 to $30,000.
We did not get a chance to talk about the manufacturing and distro costs, but I strongly think that the total costs can be done at much less than the number cited in the article.
Thank you for correcting me. I have completely forgotten about the degree and professional registration. I do have a degree, but I don't have a registration, therefore I don't think that I can legally call myself and engineer.
I stand corrected. Let's see if Microsoft and Red Hat and others who use the term incorretly can make the move and retract the term engineer.
I hate be the cynical one here, but could this be an invitation to a trademark lawsuit from Microsoft?
MSCE, I think, is trademarked by Microsoft.
RHCE, Red Hat's certification acronym seems almost uncomfortably close to RHCE.
Microsoft attempted to sue Lindows because it 'could be confused' with Windows. They did not succeed, but this showed that they are at least willing to try.
Not that I am pro-Microsoft, but I am also pro being careful and not letting them get a change to bleed someone on the spike of litigation.
Some Local Radio Stations Are Only Transmitters
on
Digital Celebrities
·
· Score: 5, Informative
I have talked with someone who have worked for the likes of Clear Channel and other large multi-station broadcasters.
This has been going on for at least two years now, especially with the larger chains.
As I remember, he told me that the announcers would say a catalog of phrases to be digitized and cataloged into a data base. They would say each city's name; common street names, names of businesses, common school names, common church names; the list goes on.
With this massive database of phrases (and many that can be used for different locals; Saint Mary's Church could be in Buffalo or Atlanta), now they can put together just about anything and make it 'local' to you.
What is interesting is that many of these stations are becomming nothing more than a transmitter. Studios, productions facilities, and even sales and marketing have all but dissapeared from the local scene. All of that is done remotely.
Local companies that want to buy ads now deal with the national office. They come up with a script. The script can be assembed via computer using the announcer's voice. Only if something unique needs to be said, does the announcer say anything. After all, Henrys' Fine Drycleaning has probably been used before the Henry's Fine Drycleaning in your hometown decides to advertise on the radio.
School sports scores, news, and so forth, can be handled remotely.
Yes I make my own clothes, as well as jewelry, and open source software.
I have been making my own clothes, jewelry, and (for a while) my own furniture. I alos make some and have been using open source software for about 10 years.
Perhaps the reason that the results are a bit slow for Star Trek is that there was so much that was a very large selection of movies to see during the last holiday season.
I think that the biggest hits (those that occupied the most screens at the local multiplex) were the new Harry Potter movie and the new Lord Of The Rings movie.
For my own preferences, I chose to stay away from all of the 'blockbusters' and was selective in what I saw. One that was really good was the one about the culture behind linux and the Free Software movement. I can't remember the title, bit it was a full length movie shown at a real movie theater and it starred the likes of Stallman, Linus, and Raymond. Others I saw included The Fast Runner and Chicago.
This brings up another rant of my own. It seems that the bigger the 'blockbuster' you see, the more time you waste seeing ads and previews. I counted 7 ads and 7 previews when I saw the new James Bond movie. That admission was $9.00. When I saw The Fast Runner, there was only one preview. That admission was only $6.00. Go figure.
Free Geek, in Portland, Oregon does provide Linux as a desktop solution to those who are not computer literate.
Free Geek, formed as a response to the growing problem of disposal of obsolete computers, has a program to take discarded computers, fix them up, load them with Debian Linux with Openoffice, and then give them to those in need.
Parts of the program include mandatory volunteer time for those who wish the free computers. This volunteer time does include taking computers apart, testing the components, assembling the computers, loading them with a Debian image over the network, and then basic Linux training.
Many of the people who partake in the program have never had a computer in their life. Almost all of them are not linux/server/geek literate when they walk in the door. When they walk out, they at least know enough to use the computer for basic desktop functions as word processing, email, and using the web on the Internet.
This can show that at a grass-roots level, promoting Linux at the desktop can work.
I can easily see why this may be happening. The types of filters that use keywords can easily fall into this.
I understand that keywords and phrases such as 'free money' 'zero percent financing' 'win million dollars' 'sex xxxxx pictures!' and so on can trigger many filters.
I would like to think that the better designed filters would use a combination of key words as well as suspicious domain names and/or IP address blocks to do filtering.
The spam filter that is used on my email account does not filter out, but it does add the word 'SPAM?' into the subject line of the email message. I can then see right away if it is really spam or is something mistaken by the filter for spam. The message is not blocked, though.
I have been to both national and local meetings and shows.
Both as an exhibitor and a patron, I have to say that I much prefer the smaller, local shows than the large national ones.
The smaller local and regional shows are often cheaper in registration fees. Often there is no travel at all. If there is, it may be a 100 to 200 mile drive and staying at a Motel 6 type of place or in one event I went to, 4 of us rented a home for the week.($600 divided by 4 for 4 days resulted is approx $40 per night)
There is a much more community feeling to the event. You can see the whole thing and meet all of the exhibitors without having to do a marathon run each day. Seminars are smaller; you should be able to ask all of your questions. Granted, there might not be as many models, but who really needs them?
As an exhibitor, I find that the smaller halls are much more 'hang loose' in what you can do and bring. I was involved in one where we all assembled and dissambled our own boots. AV was done by volunteers on barter for free tickets. Chairs and tables were available if you did not bring in your own. Booths could hand out food without problems from the hall.
Overall, I much prefer a closer-to-home experience like this then the national shows.
I am now going through the change process that is being talked about.
I was a sysadmin and Oracle DBA until Oct, 2001 when I got laid off as a contractor at Boeing. This is just as well because I saw the work ease up even before 9/11. It really should have happened sooner. ..
Starting in about 1994 to 1995, I took up the hobby of sewing my own clothes. I found it exteremely relaxing and therapeutic. I could come in with a headache after a stressful day at work. Six hours of sewing later, the headache would be gone and I would be relaxed.
Now that I am trying to make a business out of it, I have found myself less stressed.
Granted, the income is not yet as great as that of a sysadmin/oracle dba.
But there is also no pager/cell phone to wake me at 2 am or ruin a Christmas dinner. I have far fewer headaches.
I am making something that someone can hold in their hands. Some of the things I make can be considered heirlooms.
Are there any municipal level composting facilities for human waste?
The article talks about single composting toilets. Are there any systems to handle multiple toilets (neighborhood, or community) that 'do it right' and get decent, safe fertelizer?
I have to say that if I were offered about 95 percent of the movies and music offered by the RIAA and MPAA member companies for free, I would still walk right past it.
I went to the movies the other day. They had trailers for upcomming features. All of them, I was almost embarassed enough to get up and walk out, forgoing my admission ticket. I am embarassed to be living in the same country that has produced this stuff!
You guys cannot pay me enough to copy this stuff off the net! Uggh!!
Here is an interesting suggestion that I would like to pass along.
I am currently in the market for some commercial sewing equipment. This could also apply to recording and mastering equipment, which would be applicable here in this forum.
I was at a business roundtable at the Portland Chamber of Commerce (which I belong to). As part of this meeting, we each got a chance to stand up and make a non-selling request (a request for legal help, request to hire someone, request help in finding suitable space, etc). I stood up and made a request that I was in the market for some specialized sewing equipment.
I had gotten some responses. One of them was of particular interest. The suggestion was to have some business cards made out that has my name and phone number, but instead of the name and nature of my business, it would simply have 'looking for specialized equipment' and would list the make and model numbers.
Another suggestion is to talk with commercial real estate agents and bankruptcy lawyers. They know of businesses that might be heading under.
The reason that I mention this here is that these methods might be a good way to acquire some, if not all, of the recording and mastering equipment for very cheap. In fact, I knew of someone who got a room full of server equipment free because a business had to clear out a space very quickly to avoid large fees.
I note with interest that Caldera, Red Hat, Slackware, Debian, BSDI, and other Linux and BSD companies are not on this list. Why? Am I missing something obvious?
Don't say anything; just very quietly turn
around and quickly away.
Don't touch anything; don't even look back
over your shoulder.
You allready had a bid in with these folks.
If something happens and things turn ugly, the
only thing they will have linking you is your
bid for the work.
You can be sure that the feds will be looking
at logs and correlating with who's recently
dealt with the company; especially those whom
they perceive would think that the company
dissed them.
They may even question you if things really
stink and they can't find the source.
Suggestion. Better get and keep an alabi for the
next X days. A spouse or co-worker or friend who
could say that you were playing soccar at 8 PM
while the conpany's computers were tickled.
Just stay far away from the place. It's a trap
waiting to spring shut!
At the private high school that I attended;
Tabor Academy in Marion, Mass; any sort of
cheating and plagurism was not tolerated.
Classes are small (5 to 10 students with
faculty member). The rooms are very small
(smaller than the bedroom in my house).
The faculty member can see everything that goes
on in there. There is no hiding. No chances to
pull out notes, palm pilot, whatever. The lines
of sight are short and direct. Like I stand at
door of my bedroom; I sure can see the palm pilot sitting on the pillow of my bed and almost read what's on it.
The faculty member knows each student quite
intimately. Their writing styles are known. Trying
to copy chuncks of term papers from term-paper.com
type sites would not cut it.
Anything amiss? Phone call from the headmaster
to the parents that evening. Parents paying
$15000+ for their kid's education WILL listen
to that phone call and read the followup letter
from Mr. Wickenden.
Study is in supervised study hall. Library is
by pass only during study hall. The study hall
monitor knows what to look for.
At the time that Irridium was first in trouble,
I have heard an interesting rumor on happenings
at the ground station where they controlled the
constelation.
Apparently pissed off at being laid off when
the company was on ther verge of shutting down,
some of the controlers decided to acquire some
of the high end workstations at the facility.
Apparently, during the last gasping days of
Motorola's regime at Irridium, the control center
was almost completely cleaned out.
I have been on the net since '85, when it
was usenet news and uucp transfers to the few
lucky places that had a live IP connection.
I got one of the first personal 56 kb frane
relay sites back in 95. I ran a small hosting
site that put some small organizations on the
net for the first time. Banner ads were unheard
of then.
Our html was simple. No flashing animation to
soak bandwidth and irritate the reader. You
could understand what a web site was trying
to say with only using lynx. Try that now. I
did. Often you get gibberish. Too bad. Lynx
and simple web sites would be great for the
palm tops and wireless devies.
I never did need the so called clubs and chat
rooms. We had the ultimate forum. Usenet. In
fact, I still use usenet today. I am a little
sad that it has been pushed to the back of the
shelf behind the glitzy Yahoo's; Deja's; and
other.com's. It was also free of spam and
needless flame junk.
Perhaps may we witness the re-birth of Usenet?
If the likeness of Yahoo, AOL, Deja, Excite,
and the other biggies were to go away; I think
things will get very interesting.
My personal side business is making clear plastic
raincoats and doing glass fusion.
These are totaly incompatable with my work
activities and the final product of the company that I work for.
I do not touch my work email address with any
personal stuff. In fact, I don't even send email out of the company from my company email address, nor do I even give it to any friends or family.
Just to complete the separation, I don't even wear my home made clear plastic raincoats to my work location on a rainy day. That might create an
appearance of running my business (selling clear plastic raincoats) at my work place.
I started with Electrical Engineering at
Worcester Polytechnic Institute in 1976. I
was in hardware for approx 2 years and then
gradualy morphed into something akin to
system administration
This started with integrating communications and computer systems with the U.S. Navy. Then it involved in sonar system integration.
Computer science was too theoretical for me. It lulled me to asleep. I loved practical stuff and hands-on with hardware and toys.
System administration has been one of the most
hands-on occupations that I have been in and that I have seen that has paid well. It has wonderful variety; especially if you are in a small or loose shop where they don't try to pigeon hole you into something specific.
System admins do a little of everything; programming, integration, software evaluation, hardware issues (including electrical power and air conditioning planning), as well as many great
human relations skills.
I understand that they are also quite anti-gay.
I happen to be very openly gay; and also like
to dress in drag outfits made out of clear plastic.
My friends not only advised me, but practicaly told me to stay out of Utah (especially southern
rural Utah). Some of them fear that I would be all but shot in some of the smaller towns if I come out with my dress.
I do hear, however, that Salt Lake City does have a few bars.
I do have to admit, though, the Church does have one heck of a nice choir. I do admit to owning a couple of their CD's.
Slashdot Mirror
Hi:
I would like to respond to the article's citation
to the costs of producing a CD and a movie.
I believe it cited 250,000 dollars for a CD and
20 million for a movie.
I talked about this with a friend who is doing
a CD for a chorus. He said that the studio
rental and editing costs were about $20,000
to $30,000.
We did not get a chance to talk about the
manufacturing and distro costs, but I strongly
think that the total costs can be done at much
less than the number cited in the article.
Mark
Tom:
Thank you for correcting me. I have completely
forgotten about the degree and professional
registration. I do have a degree, but I don't
have a registration, therefore I don't think that
I can legally call myself and engineer.
I stand corrected. Let's see if Microsoft and
Red Hat and others who use the term incorretly
can make the move and retract the term engineer.
I hate be the cynical one here, but could this
be an invitation to a trademark lawsuit from
Microsoft?
MSCE, I think, is trademarked by Microsoft.
RHCE, Red Hat's certification acronym seems
almost uncomfortably close to RHCE.
Microsoft attempted to sue Lindows because it
'could be confused' with Windows. They did not
succeed, but this showed that they are at least
willing to try.
Not that I am pro-Microsoft, but I am also pro
being careful and not letting them get a change
to bleed someone on the spike of litigation.
I have talked with someone who have worked for
the likes of Clear Channel and other large
multi-station broadcasters.
This has been going on for at least two years now,
especially with the larger chains.
As I remember, he told me that the announcers
would say a catalog of phrases to be digitized
and cataloged into a data base. They would say
each city's name; common street names, names of
businesses, common school names, common church
names; the list goes on.
With this massive database of phrases (and many
that can be used for different locals; Saint
Mary's Church could be in Buffalo or Atlanta),
now they can put together just about anything
and make it 'local' to you.
What is interesting is that many of these stations
are becomming nothing more than a transmitter.
Studios, productions facilities, and even sales
and marketing have all but dissapeared from the
local scene. All of that is done remotely.
Local companies that want to buy ads now deal
with the national office. They come up with a script. The script can be assembed via computer
using the announcer's voice. Only if something unique needs to be said, does the announcer say anything. After all, Henrys' Fine Drycleaning
has probably been used before the Henry's Fine
Drycleaning in your hometown decides to advertise
on the radio.
School sports scores, news, and so forth, can be
handled remotely.
Yes I make my own clothes, as well as jewelry,
and open source software.
I have been making my own clothes, jewelry,
and (for a while) my own furniture. I alos
make some and have been using open source
software for about 10 years.
It can and had been done.
Perhaps the reason that the results are a bit
slow for Star Trek is that there was so much that
was a very large selection of movies to see during
the last holiday season.
I think that the biggest hits (those that occupied
the most screens at the local multiplex) were
the new Harry Potter movie and the new Lord Of
The Rings movie.
For my own preferences, I chose to stay away from all of the 'blockbusters' and was selective in what I saw. One that was really good was the one about the culture behind linux and the Free Software movement. I can't remember the title,
bit it was a full length movie shown at a real
movie theater and it starred the likes of Stallman, Linus, and Raymond. Others I saw included The Fast Runner and Chicago.
This brings up another rant of my own. It seems that the bigger the 'blockbuster' you see, the more time you waste seeing ads and previews. I counted 7 ads and 7 previews when I saw the new James Bond movie. That admission was $9.00.
When I saw The Fast Runner, there was only one
preview. That admission was only $6.00. Go
figure.
Free Geek, in Portland, Oregon does provide Linux as a desktop solution to those who are not computer literate.
Free Geek, formed as a response to the growing problem of disposal of obsolete computers, has a program to take discarded computers, fix them up,
load them with Debian Linux with Openoffice, and then give them to those in need.
Parts of the program include mandatory volunteer time for those who wish the free computers. This volunteer time does include taking computers apart, testing the components, assembling the computers, loading them with a Debian image over the network, and then basic Linux training.
Many of the people who partake in the program have never had a computer in their life. Almost all of them are not linux/server/geek literate when they walk in the door. When they walk out, they at least know enough to use the computer for basic desktop functions as word processing, email, and using the web on the Internet.
This can show that at a grass-roots level, promoting Linux at the desktop can work.
Mark
I can easily see why this may be happening. The types of filters that use keywords can easily fall into this.
I understand that keywords and phrases such as
'free money' 'zero percent financing' 'win
million dollars' 'sex xxxxx pictures!' and so
on can trigger many filters.
I would like to think that the better designed
filters would use a combination of key words as
well as suspicious domain names and/or IP
address blocks to do filtering.
The spam filter that is used on my email account does not filter out, but it does add the word
'SPAM?' into the subject line of the email message. I can then see right away if it is
really spam or is something mistaken by the filter for spam. The message is not blocked, though.
Mark
Here is my take on the Comdex type meetings.
I have been to both national and local meetings
and shows.
Both as an exhibitor and a patron, I have to say that I much prefer the smaller, local shows than the large national ones.
The smaller local and regional shows are often cheaper in registration fees. Often there is no
travel at all. If there is, it may be a 100 to
200 mile drive and staying at a Motel 6 type of
place or in one event I went to, 4 of us rented
a home for the week.($600 divided by 4 for 4
days resulted is approx $40 per night)
There is a much more community feeling to the event. You can see the whole thing and meet
all of the exhibitors without having to do
a marathon run each day. Seminars are smaller;
you should be able to ask all of your questions.
Granted, there might not be as many models, but
who really needs them?
As an exhibitor, I find that the smaller halls
are much more 'hang loose' in what you can do
and bring. I was involved in one where we all
assembled and dissambled our own boots. AV was
done by volunteers on barter for free tickets.
Chairs and tables were available if you did not
bring in your own. Booths could hand out food
without problems from the hall.
Overall, I much prefer a closer-to-home experience
like this then the national shows.
I am now going through the change process that
.
is being talked about.
I was a sysadmin and Oracle DBA until Oct, 2001
when I got laid off as a contractor at Boeing.
This is just as well because I saw the work ease
up even before 9/11. It really should have happened
sooner. .
Starting in about 1994 to 1995, I took up the
hobby of sewing my own clothes. I found it
exteremely relaxing and therapeutic. I could
come in with a headache after a stressful day
at work. Six hours of sewing later, the headache
would be gone and I would be relaxed.
Now that I am trying to make a business out of it,
I have found myself less stressed.
Granted, the income is not yet as great as that
of a sysadmin/oracle dba.
But there is also no pager/cell phone to wake
me at 2 am or ruin a Christmas dinner. I have
far fewer headaches.
I am making something that someone can hold in
their hands. Some of the things I make can be
considered heirlooms.
Mark
My father has just been diagnosed with apnia as
well. They had him get a machine to help him
breathing. It has made a very big difference.
Are there any municipal level composting
facilities for human waste?
The article talks about single composting
toilets. Are there any systems to handle
multiple toilets (neighborhood, or community)
that 'do it right' and get decent, safe
fertelizer?
Thank you OpenBSD!
I have to say that if I were offered about 95
percent of the movies and music offered by the
RIAA and MPAA member companies for free, I would
still walk right past it.
I went to the movies the other day. They had
trailers for upcomming features. All of them,
I was almost embarassed enough to get up and
walk out, forgoing my admission ticket. I am
embarassed to be living in the same country that
has produced this stuff!
You guys cannot pay me enough to copy this stuff
off the net! Uggh!!
MCP
Here is an interesting suggestion that I would
like to pass along.
I am currently in the market for some commercial
sewing equipment. This could also apply to recording
and mastering equipment, which would be applicable
here in this forum.
I was at a business roundtable at the Portland
Chamber of Commerce (which I belong to). As part
of this meeting, we each got a chance to stand up
and make a non-selling request (a request for legal help, request to hire someone, request
help in finding suitable space, etc). I stood
up and made a request that I was in the market
for some specialized sewing equipment.
I had gotten some responses. One of them was of
particular interest. The suggestion was to have
some business cards made out that has my name
and phone number, but instead of the name and
nature of my business, it would simply have
'looking for specialized equipment' and would
list the make and model numbers.
Another suggestion is to talk with commercial
real estate agents and bankruptcy lawyers. They
know of businesses that might be heading under.
The reason that I mention this here is that
these methods might be a good way to acquire
some, if not all, of the recording and mastering
equipment for very cheap. In fact, I knew of
someone who got a room full of server equipment
free because a business had to clear out a space
very quickly to avoid large fees.
Good luck!
MCP
I note with interest that Caldera, Red Hat,
Slackware, Debian, BSDI, and other Linux and
BSD companies are not on this list. Why? Am
I missing something obvious?
MCP
Thank you.
Very good ides.
MCP
For your piece of mind, walk away.
Don't say anything; just very quietly turn
around and quickly away.
Don't touch anything; don't even look back
over your shoulder.
You allready had a bid in with these folks.
If something happens and things turn ugly, the
only thing they will have linking you is your
bid for the work.
You can be sure that the feds will be looking
at logs and correlating with who's recently
dealt with the company; especially those whom
they perceive would think that the company
dissed them.
They may even question you if things really
stink and they can't find the source.
Suggestion. Better get and keep an alabi for the
next X days. A spouse or co-worker or friend who
could say that you were playing soccar at 8 PM
while the conpany's computers were tickled.
Just stay far away from the place. It's a trap
waiting to spring shut!
Classes are small (5 to 10 students with faculty member). The rooms are very small (smaller than the bedroom in my house).
The faculty member can see everything that goes on in there. There is no hiding. No chances to pull out notes, palm pilot, whatever. The lines of sight are short and direct. Like I stand at door of my bedroom; I sure can see the palm pilot sitting on the pillow of my bed and almost read what's on it.
The faculty member knows each student quite intimately. Their writing styles are known. Trying to copy chuncks of term papers from term-paper.com type sites would not cut it.
Anything amiss? Phone call from the headmaster to the parents that evening. Parents paying $15000+ for their kid's education WILL listen to that phone call and read the followup letter from Mr. Wickenden.
Study is in supervised study hall. Library is by pass only during study hall. The study hall monitor knows what to look for.
Apparently pissed off at being laid off when the company was on ther verge of shutting down, some of the controlers decided to acquire some of the high end workstations at the facility.
Apparently, during the last gasping days of Motorola's regime at Irridium, the control center was almost completely cleaned out.
I got one of the first personal 56 kb frane relay sites back in 95. I ran a small hosting site that put some small organizations on the net for the first time. Banner ads were unheard of then.
Our html was simple. No flashing animation to soak bandwidth and irritate the reader. You could understand what a web site was trying to say with only using lynx. Try that now. I did. Often you get gibberish. Too bad. Lynx and simple web sites would be great for the palm tops and wireless devies.
I never did need the so called clubs and chat rooms. We had the ultimate forum. Usenet. In fact, I still use usenet today. I am a little sad that it has been pushed to the back of the shelf behind the glitzy Yahoo's; Deja's; and other .com's. It was also free of spam and
needless flame junk.
Perhaps may we witness the re-birth of Usenet?
If the likeness of Yahoo, AOL, Deja, Excite, and the other biggies were to go away; I think things will get very interesting.
My personal side business is making clear plastic raincoats and doing glass fusion.
These are totaly incompatable with my work activities and the final product of the company that I work for.
I do not touch my work email address with any personal stuff. In fact, I don't even send email out of the company from my company email address, nor do I even give it to any friends or family.
Just to complete the separation, I don't even wear my home made clear plastic raincoats to my work location on a rainy day. That might create an appearance of running my business (selling clear plastic raincoats) at my work place.
Nice and separate.
This started with integrating communications and computer systems with the U.S. Navy. Then it involved in sonar system integration.
Computer science was too theoretical for me. It lulled me to asleep. I loved practical stuff and hands-on with hardware and toys.
System administration has been one of the most hands-on occupations that I have been in and that I have seen that has paid well. It has wonderful variety; especially if you are in a small or loose shop where they don't try to pigeon hole you into something specific.
System admins do a little of everything; programming, integration, software evaluation, hardware issues (including electrical power and air conditioning planning), as well as many great human relations skills.
My friends not only advised me, but practicaly told me to stay out of Utah (especially southern rural Utah). Some of them fear that I would be all but shot in some of the smaller towns if I come out with my dress.
I do hear, however, that Salt Lake City does have a few bars.
I do have to admit, though, the Church does have one heck of a nice choir. I do admit to owning a couple of their CD's.
Its full of dot com pink slips