USA: ~$0.24 per CDR (100 qty.)
Canada: $1.23 PLUS cost = ~$1.50 per CDR.
It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that this kind of price disparity on either side of the border is too much of a good thing to pass up - still not a better risk/reward than mailing weed/seeds (which I'm not implying I know anything about):)
Sorry, but I agree with the original poster: "free" means "no ads either", but of course if people were that honest, then fewer business' could abuse the catchword "FREE!" for their marketing anymore.
The simple logic is that an advertisement costs you time, annoyance, and a gentle product brainwashing (if you're not careful).
This is the theory I've adopted as well--it just makes the most sense to me.
We'll eventually be able to create our own "virtual" universes, which are infinitly more interesting, since WE'RE effectively Gods there.
If I had a choice between a) slowly trekking through one boring physical universe, or b) freeing my mind from its limited primordial wetware brain, and moving into my own universe(s), I'd choose the latter.
only problem is that the bigger and more successful america becomes, the bigger and unmanageable the problem gets.
Yep. More people, fewer resources, more friction--the rat race is simply accelerating, and things will only get worse before they get better, especially as more people get angrier about the "unfair" distribution of wealth on this shrinking planet.
Pressure....is....building.........Good thing there's a few awesome technology release valves just over the horizon (which I don't need to expound on here).
I mostly agree, since the very first products of nanotech research will be "boring" ultra-strong, ultra-lightweight materials with amazing properties--just the thing needed to drastically reduce launch costs now in order to give spacedev a big kick in the ass (and to cheaply build viable skyhooks & space elevators later, so we can do away with inefficient chemical rockets alltogether).
Anyway, it seems the Japanese are way more gungho for this tech than we are... maybe we'll get a rerun of the 80s in the 2020s?
Foresight is to nanotech awareness, what the EFF is to online freedom; so donate if you care about the direction this new technology is going.
When all you sell is useless crap, what happens to you when the market for useless crap dries up?
You change the sugarcoating.
Stupid people will always buy useless crap (like the latest dietpill fad under a new name) as long as the marketroids can continue to tittilate them with packaging. These people actually WANT the illusion; it fills empty lives.
I recently replaced almost all of the incandescent and standard flourescent bulbs in my place with VITA-LITE's, and I can't tell you what a huge difference it has made. It honestly feels like you're sitting in a sunlit room... (and the energy savings is nice plus too).
Here's a fun idea for Rush: While on-air, call up the greedy suit responsible for squeezing the show, and say, "I'm going to ask you one question. After I ask you this question, you MUST pause 10 seconds before giving your answer - no exceptions. If you fail to remain silent for 10 seconds before giving your answer, you are an nimwit and an asshole. It's VERY important that you follow this simple rule. Got it? Good. Now here's the question: What's 5+5"
Of course, 10 seconds gets trimmed to 500ms and the suit makes an ass of himself.:)
This new answer-delay tactic could also be extended to station contests when people call-in, and they would ALL be disqualified because of the stations cash squeezer. Heh.
Too bad Rush doesn't have a subversive bone his body -- it would take a Howard Stern to pull this stunt.
Hey, thanks for the link... this looks almost just like what I was looking for, if a little pricey @ $53 each, compared to a "free" CDR spindle. I supposed I could just buy a long 17mm dowel rod.:)
Actually, there's a big difference in acceptable quality between DivX and mp3; and that's because our ears are both easier to fool and don't need as much bandwidth as our eyes. 192kbps VBR mp3 is just as good as CD for me, but even the "highest quality" DivX's I've seen don't really compare to DVD quality... unless you choose to believe that because you're too cheap to buy DVDs in the first place.
So, no, I don't consider divx or multiple svcd disks a worthy backup of a DVD; only the original will do (until I can buy a cheap DVD-R burner).
I have friends who just leave stacks and stacks of CDs or DVDs on their computer desks or living room floor.
IMO, jewel cases are a hassle and a waste of space for the mostly minimal protection they provide (as long as you're not transporting them or constantly handling them out of the player). I've actually taken to storing most of my CDs in old CD-R spindles, since I've already ripped/backed-up the content, and since I'm not the type who needs to showcase my collection for friends to gawk at.
I would be doing the same for my few DVDs, except that I can't make cheap backups of 'em, so I can't risk scratches due to dirt getting between them on a spindle... though... maybe a layer of felt per would work...
Anyone manufacture something like this? a "super spindle"... with tabs for indexing?
Those not-so-voluntary-looking "registration" cards are nothing more than a marketing scam; an invitation to provide free market research for the opportunity to later be spammed by whoever they sold your info to. No thanks.
Bandwidth would become cheaper because circuits could be multiplexed... With comcast, I would guess that %90 of their bandwidth on the wire is being sucked away by their old infrastructure (analogue video)
Ahem. When I moved recently, I specifically asked for the old analog cable service, even though digital was available, with all its extra crap-channels. Why? Two reasons:
1) digital cable is actually lower quality than analog *gasp*, and 2) I can't plug digital cable into all the TVs in my home without buying extra boxes and paying more per month, but with analog I can.
So, digital cable cuts their costs while increasing mine. What kind of deal is that?
Well, actually, I'm more of a cynical optimist; which means I assume the worst of the human animal, but can only hope for the best, without deluding myself (too much).
The root problem is that our technology is evolving faster than our relatively primitive brains, and alpha-male assholes in power find it hard not to leverage it to be even bigger 'superior' assholes... gravitating towards world domination, rather than a global commonwealth. Evolutionary baggage...
The RIAA/MPAA/Napster argument -- that increasing CONTROL is a trend, and that things will only get worse -- is valid, but only up to a point. It's been my view for a while now that we're in-between revolutions, and that things probably will get worse before they get better.
Right now the necessary evil is people making information artifically scarce to trade for things that aren't as cheap and abundant (yet). Once nanotech/AI opens the door, there isn't much of a reason to be a selfish asshole anymore.
...blind to the massive problems with the present system -- and our ability to build a better alternative for everyone.
Capitalism is ugly, but just like the U.S. itself, it's the best of the worst at the moment. Us greedy humans are just doing the best we can with what we have.
Anyway, it's my opinion that technology will eventually erase much of the inequity of capitalism. In a few decades, when nanotech and AI mature, a new social contract will have to be drawn up to account for an economy of abundance -- one where you can cheaply reassemble the molecules of garbage into food -- one where AI can do better engineering and write better movie reviews than humans -- one where robot labor isn't sci-fi -- and one where solar energy isn't laughed at.
You should also check out Zazzle.com. They'll manufacture and next-day ship your stuff for you.
They're still in beta atm, so use the "backdoor" to check them out instead.
I do question their 12% royalty though -- I'd rather they be more upfront about their costs so that you could figure who is getting the shorter end of the profit stick.
Re:not a bad piece, but...
on
NY Times on Anime
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
I love anime because... because it's really good at giving me "happy spasms" (no hentai jokes); and I need this "mood fix" like a drug.
More so than in any other type of artform, I just feel overjoyed by the overall mood of most anime... hard to explain... Cowboy Bebop is probably the best current example...
You know the feeling that a great piece of architecture gives you? It's kind of like that.
--
Re:The World Trade Center apparently never existed
on
History of Video Games
·
· Score: 3, Insightful
Why the hell is the world trade center being removed from old movies, video games, advertisements and just about anything else.
Because if you want to SELL something, such as entertainment, you don't want to interrupt the happy-happy consumer mindset with "bad feelings" for even an instant!
Same reason Time Magazine chose Giuliani over Bin Laden for person of the year -- money.
(Of course, if your "business" *is* selling WTC "souvenirs", then the psychology is reversed... and this is in fact more despicable IMO.)
Another reason why domain speculators (especially in the pr0n biz) bought so many varied domains was because of the fact that just about all the search engines gave a big relevancy boost to content if it was at the root of the domain vs some buried URL, with the assumption being that/index.html is somehow more legitimate. The SE's also gave a lot of weight to keywords in the domain itself, so it paid to have a bunch.
It's a good thing those assumptions have been thrown out the window in favor of link popularity... since astroturfing takes a lot more work.:)
Slashdot Mirror
Canada: $1.23 PLUS cost = ~$1.50 per CDR.
It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that this kind of price disparity on either side of the border is too much of a good thing to pass up - still not a better risk/reward than mailing weed/seeds (which I'm not implying I know anything about) :)
--
--
The simple logic is that an advertisement costs you time, annoyance, and a gentle product brainwashing (if you're not careful).
--
--
We'll eventually be able to create our own "virtual" universes, which are infinitly more interesting, since WE'RE effectively Gods there.
If I had a choice between a) slowly trekking through one boring physical universe, or b) freeing my mind from its limited primordial wetware brain, and moving into my own universe(s), I'd choose the latter.
--
Yep. More people, fewer resources, more friction--the rat race is simply accelerating, and things will only get worse before they get better, especially as more people get angrier about the "unfair" distribution of wealth on this shrinking planet.
Pressure....is....building.........Good thing there's a few awesome technology release valves just over the horizon (which I don't need to expound on here).
--
Anyway, it seems the Japanese are way more gungho for this tech than we are... maybe we'll get a rerun of the 80s in the 2020s?
Foresight is to nanotech awareness, what the EFF is to online freedom; so donate if you care about the direction this new technology is going.
--
You change the sugarcoating.
Stupid people will always buy useless crap (like the latest dietpill fad under a new name) as long as the marketroids can continue to tittilate them with packaging. These people actually WANT the illusion; it fills empty lives.
--
I recently replaced almost all of the incandescent and standard flourescent bulbs in my place with VITA-LITE's, and I can't tell you what a huge difference it has made. It honestly feels like you're sitting in a sunlit room... (and the energy savings is nice plus too).
--
Of course, 10 seconds gets trimmed to 500ms and the suit makes an ass of himself. :)
This new answer-delay tactic could also be extended to station contests when people call-in, and they would ALL be disqualified because of the stations cash squeezer. Heh.
Too bad Rush doesn't have a subversive bone his body -- it would take a Howard Stern to pull this stunt.
--
--
So, no, I don't consider divx or multiple svcd disks a worthy backup of a DVD; only the original will do (until I can buy a cheap DVD-R burner).
--
IMO, jewel cases are a hassle and a waste of space for the mostly minimal protection they provide (as long as you're not transporting them or constantly handling them out of the player). I've actually taken to storing most of my CDs in old CD-R spindles, since I've already ripped/backed-up the content, and since I'm not the type who needs to showcase my collection for friends to gawk at.
I would be doing the same for my few DVDs, except that I can't make cheap backups of 'em, so I can't risk scratches due to dirt getting between them on a spindle... though... maybe a layer of felt per would work...
Anyone manufacture something like this? a "super spindle" ... with tabs for indexing?
--
(I read somewhere that those were the two most common fake zips given.)
--
Those not-so-voluntary-looking "registration" cards are nothing more than a marketing scam; an invitation to provide free market research for the opportunity to later be spammed by whoever they sold your info to. No thanks.
--
Ahem. When I moved recently, I specifically asked for the old analog cable service, even though digital was available, with all its extra crap-channels. Why? Two reasons:
1) digital cable is actually lower quality than analog *gasp*, and 2) I can't plug digital cable into all the TVs in my home without buying extra boxes and paying more per month, but with analog I can.
So, digital cable cuts their costs while increasing mine. What kind of deal is that?
--
The root problem is that our technology is evolving faster than our relatively primitive brains, and alpha-male assholes in power find it hard not to leverage it to be even bigger 'superior' assholes ... gravitating towards world domination, rather than a global commonwealth. Evolutionary baggage...
The RIAA/MPAA/Napster argument -- that increasing CONTROL is a trend, and that things will only get worse -- is valid, but only up to a point. It's been my view for a while now that we're in-between revolutions, and that things probably will get worse before they get better.
Right now the necessary evil is people making information artifically scarce to trade for things that aren't as cheap and abundant (yet). Once nanotech/AI opens the door, there isn't much of a reason to be a selfish asshole anymore.
--
Capitalism is ugly, but just like the U.S. itself, it's the best of the worst at the moment. Us greedy humans are just doing the best we can with what we have.
Anyway, it's my opinion that technology will eventually erase much of the inequity of capitalism. In a few decades, when nanotech and AI mature, a new social contract will have to be drawn up to account for an economy of abundance -- one where you can cheaply reassemble the molecules of garbage into food -- one where AI can do better engineering and write better movie reviews than humans -- one where robot labor isn't sci-fi -- and one where solar energy isn't laughed at.
--
They're still in beta atm, so use the "backdoor" to check them out instead.
I do question their 12% royalty though -- I'd rather they be more upfront about their costs so that you could figure who is getting the shorter end of the profit stick.
--
Classic. :-)
--
More so than in any other type of artform, I just feel overjoyed by the overall mood of most anime... hard to explain... Cowboy Bebop is probably the best current example...
You know the feeling that a great piece of architecture gives you? It's kind of like that.
--
Because if you want to SELL something, such as entertainment, you don't want to interrupt the happy-happy consumer mindset with "bad feelings" for even an instant!
Same reason Time Magazine chose Giuliani over Bin Laden for person of the year -- money.
(Of course, if your "business" *is* selling WTC "souvenirs", then the psychology is reversed... and this is in fact more despicable IMO.)
--
It's been ~7 years... but let me try from memory:
hello db "Hello, World!"
mov cx, LEN(hello)
mov dx, offset hello
mov something, something else
mov ah, 9h
int 21h
--
But what happens to a society in which no individual NEEDS to work anymore in order to ensure his survival?
(and what will we do with the landlords? :)
--
It's a good thing those assumptions have been thrown out the window in favor of link popularity... since astroturfing takes a lot more work. :)
--