There are plenty of ways to do without fuel oil, we've heard about them for decades -- but while oil was plentiful and cheap, there was little economic incentive to for manufacturers to buy into alternative energy sources, which restricted Joe & Jane Average Consumer's options.
Now, in addition to pricey and inefficient solar panels, we're seeing electric cars actually advertised on TV. GE is marketing a hydrogen fuel cell that can power your house, including heat. (Yes, they've got it set up to run on hydrogen from propane, but you can modify it to accept hydrogen cracked from water using windmills or whatever.) Not enough power for you? You're wasting to much by living in "traditional" construction -- luckily, Monolithic Domes fulfill the promise that Geodesic Domes failed.
"But Bullwinkle, that trick never works!" It certainly hasn't up till now. But necessity is about to make these options a lot more popular.
"It's about time the people who run this planet of yours realized that to be dependent on a mineral slime just doesn't make sense. -- Dr. Who
Here's another thought: not one single revolution (or "major upheaval of socio-political standards", I like that), has ever acomplished the goals for which it was fought -- not even the American Revolution.
I'm not saying revolt is a bad idea -- but how to make it a successful revolt?
"A hundred thousand harmless junkies became criminals overnight, by Act of Congress, in nineteen twenty-seven. Ten years later, in thirty-seven, all the pot-heads in the country became criminals overnight, by Act of Congress. And they really were criminals, when the papers were signed. The guns prove it. Walk away from those guns, waving a joint, and refuse to halt when they tell you. Their Imagination will become your Reality in a second."
Illuminatus I, The Eye in the Pyramid, 149-150
Robert Anton Wilson
I agree with Katz' data, but not with his conclusions: what's dying here is Americans belief that we live in a democracy, that we're still a free people. Of course, our democracy itself died a long time ago.
The colonies revolted against Britian with much less provocation than we have today, and the low voter turnout is showing the number of Americans waking up to that reality. Many would say we're being ungrateful, that we're citizens of the richest, most powerful country on the planet. But with the U.S. Government become less and less acountable to its citizenry, we're well on our way to becoming the most well-fed, pampered slaves on the planet.
"There has got to be more interesting news going on than another CueCat story."
You'd think so, but not according to what slashdot'rs comment on:
The Shockwave Rider by Hemos on Tuesday September 26, @10:16AM EDT 3
Cybercitizenship Definition Of Crime by michael on Tuesday September 26, @10:11AM EDT 0 CueCat At It Again by CmdrTaco on Tuesday September 26, @09:58AM EDT 39
MPAA Is Sending Out Letters Again by michael on Tuesday September 26, @09:08AM EDT 2
iSONEWS Censored By Sega by michael on Tuesday September 26, @08:01AM EDT 1
Three of these stories are about similiar abuses by corporations, but the CueCat story has the far and away the majority of the responses.
I can't see any posts -- this better not be the first post!
(Standard I-am-NOT-a-lawyer disclaimer)
Having read the emails back'n'forth between Sega and ISONews, it looks like Sega's lawyer has been enboldened by recent court decisions to the point where he thinks he can ignore proper legal procedure. When asked to provide specific example of violations (which he's required to provide), he aludes, McCarthy-like, to all the info he claims to have, but he doesn't provide specifics.
The newssite is taking the correct action -- getting their own lawyer. It's just a shame they have to spend the money to defend themselves from this sort of baseless intimidation tactic.
Sampling is for media where it wasn't feasible to produce accurate counts (I say "wasn't" because media like TV can do much better than methods like the Nielsens these days -- they've got a severe case of "but-that's-the-way-we've-always-done-it"-itus). Now, measuring website traffic can be done with some accuracy, as long as you're careful what you're measuring -- some sites still count each page hit as a separate visitor! And provisions should be made for filtering out (to the extent possible) results from "visits" from the usual 'bots and trolls.
As for the ease of faking server logs, not a problem (inserting standard I-am-not-a-lawyer disclaimer here): if you're using them as proof of traffic to your advertisers, write that into the contract -- then faking the server log becomes fraud, with the appropriate legal remedy's available. This is not my favorite solution (especially not with anything to do with the Internet), but displaying advertisements for money is a business relationship, and can be managed as such.
Wearable computer "fashion" is all well and good, but none of it matters till LCD glasses (or some other wearable monitor) can provide 1024 x 768 resolution (preferably with 24 bit color minimum). Without that, a wearable computer is little more than a games platform or a PDA - nifty tech, but not really usable as a full-out desktop replacement.
It's disappointing to lose Pluto, but I'm glad the Europa mission's still on - with that possible subsurface ocean, it's probably the best chance for life in the Solar System aside from Mars (maybe even including Mars). Compared to studying the here-again, gone-again atmosphere of Pluto, I'm a lot more interested in Europa.
.
I've only found one 'management methodology' to be of any use, but this one makes up for all the rest: The Deming Management Method. This is not TQC (Total Quality Control) or TQM (Total Quality Management), although it is frequently confused with them, which sometimes gives it a bad reputation. However, Deming's methods, when implemented across the board without any management wishy-washy "we can't do that" cutting, work beautifully.
'Fraid I don't have time to go into detail today, but fortunately there's plenty of resources available: Several books, of which my favorite for the beginner is "Four Days With Dr. Deming : A Strategy for Modern Methods of Management (Engineering Process Improvement Series)", and websites, you can start with the W. Edwards Deming Institute Web Site. Also try Deming's Fourteen Points and his Seven Deadly Diseases. Don't be discouraged that you've seen some of these before in failed methods -- there've been many attempts to create a more management-palatable "Deming Lite", with disapointing results.
Slashdot Mirror
At least it uses Linux . . . . . maybe they figured M$ Windows is no longer in fashion!
Now, in addition to pricey and inefficient solar panels, we're seeing electric cars actually advertised on TV. GE is marketing a hydrogen fuel cell that can power your house, including heat. (Yes, they've got it set up to run on hydrogen from propane, but you can modify it to accept hydrogen cracked from water using windmills or whatever.) Not enough power for you? You're wasting to much by living in "traditional" construction -- luckily, Monolithic Domes fulfill the promise that Geodesic Domes failed.
"But Bullwinkle, that trick never works!" It certainly hasn't up till now. But necessity is about to make these options a lot more popular.
"It's about time the people who run this planet of yours realized that to be dependent on a mineral slime just doesn't make sense. -- Dr. Who
I'm not saying revolt is a bad idea -- but how to make it a successful revolt?
Illuminatus I, The Eye in the Pyramid, 149-150
Robert Anton Wilson
I agree with Katz' data, but not with his conclusions: what's dying here is Americans belief that we live in a democracy, that we're still a free people. Of course, our democracy itself died a long time ago.
The colonies revolted against Britian with much less provocation than we have today, and the low voter turnout is showing the number of Americans waking up to that reality. Many would say we're being ungrateful, that we're citizens of the richest, most powerful country on the planet. But with the U.S. Government become less and less acountable to its citizenry, we're well on our way to becoming the most well-fed, pampered slaves on the planet.
You'd think so, but not according to what slashdot'rs comment on:
The Shockwave Rider by Hemos on Tuesday September 26, @10:16AM EDT 3
Cybercitizenship Definition Of Crime by michael on Tuesday September 26, @10:11AM EDT 0
CueCat At It Again by CmdrTaco on Tuesday September 26, @09:58AM EDT 39
MPAA Is Sending Out Letters Again by michael on Tuesday September 26, @09:08AM EDT 2
iSONEWS Censored By Sega by michael on Tuesday September 26, @08:01AM EDT 1
Three of these stories are about similiar abuses by corporations, but the CueCat story has the far and away the majority of the responses.
(Standard I-am-NOT-a-lawyer disclaimer)
Having read the emails back'n'forth between Sega and ISONews, it looks like Sega's lawyer has been enboldened by recent court decisions to the point where he thinks he can ignore proper legal procedure. When asked to provide specific example of violations (which he's required to provide), he aludes, McCarthy-like, to all the info he claims to have, but he doesn't provide specifics.
The newssite is taking the correct action -- getting their own lawyer. It's just a shame they have to spend the money to defend themselves from this sort of baseless intimidation tactic.
"FWIW, this is called the "Mickey Option" because of the resemblance to Mickey Mouse. Only the Feds would choose the Mickey Mouse route, right?"
Micky Mouse operations have been the USGov's Standard Operating Procedure for the last several decades (minimum) -- at least now they're admiting it!
As for the ease of faking server logs, not a problem (inserting standard I-am-not-a-lawyer disclaimer here): if you're using them as proof of traffic to your advertisers, write that into the contract -- then faking the server log becomes fraud, with the appropriate legal remedy's available. This is not my favorite solution (especially not with anything to do with the Internet), but displaying advertisements for money is a business relationship, and can be managed as such.
Wearable computer "fashion" is all well and good, but none of it matters till LCD glasses (or some other wearable monitor) can provide 1024 x 768 resolution (preferably with 24 bit color minimum). Without that, a wearable computer is little more than a games platform or a PDA - nifty tech, but not really usable as a full-out desktop replacement.
It's disappointing to lose Pluto, but I'm glad the Europa mission's still on - with that possible subsurface ocean, it's probably the best chance for life in the Solar System aside from Mars (maybe even including Mars). Compared to studying the here-again, gone-again atmosphere of Pluto, I'm a lot more interested in Europa.
I've only found one 'management methodology' to be of any use, but this one makes up for all the rest: The Deming Management Method. This is not TQC (Total Quality Control) or TQM (Total Quality Management), although it is frequently confused with them, which sometimes gives it a bad reputation. However, Deming's methods, when implemented across the board without any management wishy-washy "we can't do that" cutting, work beautifully.
'Fraid I don't have time to go into detail today, but fortunately there's plenty of resources available: Several books, of which my favorite for the beginner is "Four Days With Dr. Deming : A Strategy for Modern Methods of Management (Engineering Process Improvement Series)", and websites, you can start with the W. Edwards Deming Institute Web Site. Also try Deming's Fourteen Points and his Seven Deadly Diseases. Don't be discouraged that you've seen some of these before in failed methods -- there've been many attempts to create a more management-palatable "Deming Lite", with disapointing results.
One last scrap: RE: STUDENT REQUEST: Deming's 14 points applied to a software engineering organisation.