A friend who owns a paging company just bought one of these. I tagged along during the negotiation and purchase. They are indeed, as a previous poster put it, "hell for stout." The scale of the tower, building and microwave cones makes the whole thing seem like a toy. It's just that weird. The towers are huge, this one is a 100 ft free-standing, 30 ft on a side IIRC with 25 foot tall microwave cones at the peak and associated waveguide down into the concrete buildings. This is a smaller installation, but still has huge power service and infrastructure, neat-o VW diesel inline 6 backup generator and enormous battery supply (the size of a truck or so), later added hardline to the top, it was a hell of a deal (more so considering how difficult towers are to get up these days).
What really boggles my mind is the BILLIONS and BILLIONS of dollars that went into building these things in the 60's. They are truly incredible, inside and out. Someone decided that there WOULD be long distance (and there was).
I can't thank you enough for sharing your insights into writing, fitness, death and life through those wonderful Author's Notes at the end of the books. Your perspective is amazing to observe and analyze; I wish I could better emulate it! I can't remember if it was in Bio of an Ogre or in one of the wonderful (and eagerly anticipated!) Author's Notes where you described your cure for writer's block as simply continuing to write, parathetically if necessary, about whatever was on your mind. Do you find that this style still works sitting at the keyboard?
Amen, Brother. Ride The Lightning was definitely better than Kill em All or Puppets. I liked Anasthesia, Jump in the Fire, and of course, Am I Evil (added to later versions, then removed again) on Kill 'em All, but the only bum song on Ride the Lightning is Trapped under Ice, which is still better than Phantom Lord (1st track on Kill em All, I think). I would be pissed, too, if I wrote Fade to Black, or For Whom the Bell Tolls, or even Sanitarium, and people were giving it away. I can't see myself getting so worked up for King Nothing, though... In fact, they should give away Load and Reload. I see them at gas stations already. Jason Lewis
The tone makes it seem like there *may* be a movie. Lots of movie studios buy the movie options on lots of books/screenplays every week. I dare say that most never end up on the screen. But wouldn't it be cool to see the/. effect on Loews or Hoyts?:) JLEWIS
None of the things you mentioned are in the same league as DiVX. Save for 8-track, all are still in common use.
DiVX was never a format. Even 8 tracks enjoyed a few years of market share and lots of software. DiVX had neither, and thank your preferred deity for that.
It's amazing to see the reaction from this event. And, it certainly is inspiring.
When things like this inevitably happen, they bring everyone together for a short time to lament the loss of what once was. Our only recourse is to sit back and think about how great it really was.
Sage wisdom indeed, but it really is difficult to even think about it. We need things like Star Trek, and any break from that "reality" is frightening and unnerving.
Being unable to deal with our own emotions is what makes geeks Geeks, but it is heartwarming to see the evangelical notions of what is Good and Bad be set aside to honor something, and someone, that was truly Good.
JonKatz, I hope you can put all of this into some coherency for your next write up.
So, goodbye DeForest Kelley. May you both rest in peace.
Cringely seems to infer that bands will be cast into anonymity and desitution once record sales fall below the support level of the distribution network. Is that really true?
What if music really was free? There would still be radio, IP or RF based, and therefore there would still be popular bands. And *live shows*.
That's the ticket: live shows. Live shows could still get 60,000 people to pay $20 a head for nice $12 million per event, even if noone payed a dime for the album. Not bad.
Imagine a world where thousands of bands distributed their tunes *freely*. There would be countless numbers of bands with web sites that distribute their music. There would probably be paid employees of "popular music" web sites (and radio stations) that would scour the web for new music, as well as handle new releases for known popluar bands. I see mp3.com heading full-a-stern in this direction.
And of course, just like now, the best of the best would still make millions from their live shows and drive around in Maseratis (at 185) and eat green M&Ms.
Unfortunately, I don't see this world coming soon. Perhaps the continued work of the MP3 pirates can help bring this world to fruition. I *don't* see how MS Audio can help.
There are still intellectual property rights to be worked out, even if music is free. For example, if I cover a song that was written by another band, I should probably pay them a royalty. Perhaps this could be treated like patents: after 17 years, all music would be royalty free.
I am worried that John Katz's newly self-appointed ambassadorship to the masses for "the geeks" is not what was originally intended. Or was it?
How about a slashdot poll? "Should John Katz be our ambassador to the masses?"
I have not yet formulated an opinion, however the fact that the question appeared in my mind says something. There are worse choices than John, sure. AFAIK, no one better has yet appeared.
Wait, here's an idea! Take the Mustang, bounce it off a few trees (and maybe a minivan) so it'll handle better, donate to an unsuspecting relative, and then grab a GM F-body, drop in a big block (and maybe some blowers to add some treble), get some 15" wide tires on the back, and spin until you puke.
Ought to be be good for five or six world records, depending on how long the process takes.
You still need to learn a bit more humility. Honestly, "BASIC in middle school". Too much information == bragging != humility. Or, Too much information:= bragging humility.;)
I can't say that I have done more, or that I was programming BASIC in middle school, but you can't base your ego on this. Surely, there are others somewhere who consider this underachievement. Consider them when writing.
Argghhh... Humility is the single most important trait in a geek, for future reference.
"I've been programming since I was thirteen..." BASIC doesn't count, for Chrissake!
Not that we shouldn't be flaming John, he needs it to improve his avante garde sentence structure ("This looks weird, let's go with it"), but we also need to follow the rules.
Slashdot Mirror
A friend who owns a paging company just bought one of these. I tagged along during the negotiation and purchase. They are indeed, as a previous poster put it, "hell for stout." The scale of the tower, building and microwave cones makes the whole thing seem like a toy. It's just that weird. The towers are huge, this one is a 100 ft free-standing, 30 ft on a side IIRC with 25 foot tall microwave cones at the peak and associated waveguide down into the concrete buildings. This is a smaller installation, but still has huge power service and infrastructure, neat-o VW diesel inline 6 backup generator and enormous battery supply (the size of a truck or so), later added hardline to the top, it was a hell of a deal (more so considering how difficult towers are to get up these days).
What really boggles my mind is the BILLIONS and BILLIONS of dollars that went into building these things in the 60's. They are truly incredible, inside and out. Someone decided that there WOULD be long distance (and there was).
I can't thank you enough for sharing your insights into writing, fitness, death and life through those wonderful Author's Notes at the end of the books. Your perspective is amazing to observe and analyze; I wish I could better emulate it! I can't remember if it was in Bio of an Ogre or in one of the wonderful (and eagerly anticipated!) Author's Notes where you described your cure for writer's block as simply continuing to write, parathetically if necessary, about whatever was on your mind. Do you find that this style still works sitting at the keyboard?
Lara Croft? Come on, what about all of the original Nintendo characters? Mario, TMNT, etc?
Check out
http://www.spectrumkinetics.com/
Amen, Brother. Ride The Lightning was definitely better than Kill em All or Puppets. I liked Anasthesia, Jump in the Fire, and of course, Am I Evil (added to later versions, then removed again) on Kill 'em All, but the only bum song on Ride the Lightning is Trapped under Ice, which is still better than Phantom Lord (1st track on Kill em All, I think). I would be pissed, too, if I wrote Fade to Black, or For Whom the Bell Tolls, or even Sanitarium, and people were giving it away. I can't see myself getting so worked up for King Nothing, though... In fact, they should give away Load and Reload. I see them at gas stations already. Jason Lewis
The tone makes it seem like there *may* be a movie. Lots of movie studios buy the movie options on lots of books/screenplays every week. I dare say that most never end up on the screen. But wouldn't it be cool to see the /. effect on Loews or Hoyts? :) JLEWIS
None of the things you mentioned are in the same league as DiVX. Save for 8-track, all are still in common use.
DiVX was never a format. Even 8 tracks enjoyed a few years of market share and lots of software. DiVX had neither, and thank your preferred deity for that.
It's amazing to see the reaction from this event. And, it certainly is inspiring.
When things like this inevitably happen, they bring everyone together for a short time to lament the loss of what once was. Our only recourse is to sit back and think about how great it really was.
Sage wisdom indeed, but it really is difficult to even think about it. We need things like Star Trek, and any break from that "reality" is frightening and unnerving.
Being unable to deal with our own emotions is what makes geeks Geeks, but it is heartwarming to see the evangelical notions of what is Good and Bad be set aside to honor something, and someone, that was truly Good.
JonKatz, I hope you can put all of this into some coherency for your next write up.
So, goodbye DeForest Kelley. May you both rest in peace.
I'd someday want to be able make enough money to afford an F-50 doing what I love...
Hum, I think that I'd settle for making *any* money doing what I love...
Drinks are on the house!
And while you are at it, you might as well port the rest of Linux to the PIC... :)
Not a flame, it's just that I don't think that you realize the enormity of the project.
Cringely seems to infer that bands will be cast into anonymity and desitution once record sales fall below the support level of the distribution network. Is that really true?
What if music really was free? There would still be radio, IP or RF based, and therefore there would still be popular bands. And *live shows*.
That's the ticket: live shows. Live shows could still get 60,000 people to pay $20 a head for nice $12 million per event, even if noone payed a dime for the album. Not bad.
Imagine a world where thousands of bands distributed their tunes *freely*. There would be countless numbers of bands with web sites that distribute their music. There would probably be paid employees of "popular music" web sites (and radio stations) that would scour the web for new music, as well as handle new releases for known popluar bands. I see mp3.com heading full-a-stern in this direction.
And of course, just like now, the best of the best would still make millions from their live shows and drive around in Maseratis (at 185) and eat green M&Ms.
Unfortunately, I don't see this world coming soon. Perhaps the continued work of the MP3 pirates can help bring this world to fruition. I *don't* see how MS Audio can help.
There are still intellectual property rights to be worked out, even if music is free. For example, if I cover a song that was written by another band, I should probably pay them a royalty. Perhaps this could be treated like patents: after 17 years, all music would be royalty free.
I am worried that John Katz's newly self-appointed ambassadorship to the masses for "the geeks" is not what was originally intended. Or was it?
How about a slashdot poll? "Should John Katz be our ambassador to the masses?"
I have not yet formulated an opinion, however the fact that the question appeared in my mind says something. There are worse choices than John, sure. AFAIK, no one better has yet appeared.
Wait, here's an idea! Take the Mustang, bounce it off a few trees (and maybe a minivan) so it'll handle better, donate to an unsuspecting relative, and then grab a GM F-body, drop in a big block (and maybe some blowers to add some treble), get some 15" wide tires on the back, and spin until you puke.
Ought to be be good for five or six world records, depending on how long the process takes.
You still need to learn a bit more humility. Honestly, "BASIC in middle school". Too much information == bragging != humility. Or, Too much information := bragging humility. ;)
I can't say that I have done more, or that I was programming BASIC in middle school, but you can't base your ego on this. Surely, there are others somewhere who consider this underachievement. Consider them when writing.
Argghhh... Humility is the single most important trait in a geek, for future reference.
"I've been programming since I was thirteen..." BASIC doesn't count, for Chrissake!
Not that we shouldn't be flaming John, he needs it to improve his avante garde sentence structure ("This looks weird, let's go with it"), but we also need to follow the rules.
Jason Lewis