I recently bought a new sound system and it wouldn't read recordable CD's from my PC CDRW. I rapidly took it back and got a refund from the Dopiest looking Sales Clerk in the store as I feared being stuck with it. I now take a personally burnt CD with me when looking at stereos and I have burnt one for a friend to use as well for the same purpose.
In the area of agricultural production, there are several western non subsidising (or very low subsidising) countries that can never get a foot in the door of Europe or the the US even with WTO agreements.
It took foot and mouth and it's decimation of swathes of beef cattle in Europe to get Australian beef temporararily accepted into Europe. The US cries foul very loudly when any restriction is put on any of their exports. (Including the situation where the exported item is carrying a disease that does not exist in the target country. I guess the logic behind that is that it is unfair for another country not to have diseases.) At the same time every restriction possible is placed in front of other countries exporting to the US, IE Australian/New Zealand lamb sales.
The US can even be found guilty of illegal practices by the WTO and simply ignore the ruling for a couple of years until rulings with regards to fines are about to be issued. They then relent for a month and then repeat the process all over again. The so called free trade in agriculture movement under the WTO does nothing to support those countries that actually carry it out.
The fact that less than 10% of US agriculture is even remotely small farm operations any more but is instead large agri corporations destroys most of the images they use as an excuse. The europeans at least have used the subsidies and restrictions to maintain the rural societies even if they are inefficient. The US is just doing it to help corporations profits.
Sorry about the rant but there is just a simple false hood in believing that other countries get efficiency by 'almost always treating their workers as brutally as possible', at least in the agricultural sector.
I was under the illusion that if you apply a natural heat gradient acroos a thermo electric material you will actually get power out of it. Obviously no where near as much as the heat energy transferred but could it not be a potential energy source where we already deliberately set up heat gradients. For example a large power station cooling tower could pump the water through the material ( hot on one side ) then allow it to run down the outside cooling with evaporation down the outside (cool on the other side). The towers already do the pumping etc to supply cool water back to the heat exchangers in the turbine house so could it not be used to generate more power from the hot water. If it gained only a few percent of thermal efficiency then that is an unbelievably large $ value in saved fuel costs across an entire nation.
Of course if the material expence is high it may not be cost effective but with the given increases in efficiency it may be.
If we were to place a steel plate out in the sun it will heat up and easily give it's heat up into the thermo electric substance. Now if we were to then put a natural evaporative cooling substance on top of said thermo electric substance we will get a heat gradient across the device. Now if that would then generate a 700w (or even as little as 250w) per centimetre power source (of course each centimetre may need to ride on a 100 by 100 cm sheet of metal) then we have a new form of solar generation.
Using a basic metal plate, this device and a slow drip water supply on top of the device we have a potential boon for certain areas. If the water is actually gathered together on rainy days from the steel plates and we use a capilliary action natural water pump(a raw cotton fibre wick for example) to raise it onto the Thermo electric material then we could conceivable get a fairly low tech solar power supply (also potentially cheaper than existing panels and probably much less efficient).
Would the use of these embedded on metal roofs in tropical regions be useable as a potential power source? The heating effect is there and water is plentiful in some areas. The outflow of heat from the metal heat source could also help cool building roof spaces in these areas.
I am of course assuming that the natural evaporative cooling effect is enough to keep the temperature gradient high. I am also assuming that the power can be easily generated by the material from the temperature gradient, which is what I believe the article states.
2 years and 2 months ago a organised group set up several 10-20 article auctions of office 97 pro and came through on the deals for a while too build up confidence. I unfortunately bought a copy (for my father for Christmass) about 2 weeks after they decided to hammer E-bay with several very large volume auctions that they then refused to supply. After 5 months of back and forward garbage with E-Bay, (Including the fact their consumer fraud page failed for around 6 weeks straight with errors.) a complaint was made by another australian through our consulate regarding non delivery after payments were sent through the mail. Not long after I received emails from a special agent NNNNNN requesting all possible information.
About 14 months ago I was informed a couple had been arrested in Texas on no less than 850 cases of mail fraud as many people had refused to use credit cards but rather used mailed money orders and cheques. I later saw reports in the IT section of our national paper discussing the conviction of a texas couple for E-Bay auction based mail fraud. I assumed that was them. I believe they were given 800 years of jail time, they were to serve a minimum of 5 years with the remainder to run concurrently. The fraud was believed to have netted over $200 000. The whole case was one of the first to actually progress through the courts, as an example. I guess they were lucky, being held in Texas they may or got the chair:)
When I mentioned it to my father he was a little concerned over them having to do time. How else though would you deter people from doing it again?
They were almost always normal workers working during periods of flood or before harvest. When you have guaranteed planting and flood times you have periods where a large chunk of your population does nothing for 2-4 months of the year.
Many monuments were built by poorer workers who exchanged work on the monuments during flood times and slack farming periods for tax breaks etc. The actual detail work was done by high level artisans employed on a more permanent basis.
Considerable numbers of the monuments were built with Bricks, today small numbers of men can build quite large things with bricks and for the most part the actual techniques are similar. Combine this brickwork for mass wall construction with occasional ten year slad stone projects and itcan easily be done without working anyone to death.
Interesting note- Has anyone else noted that about the best place to take photo's of the Sphinx is from on top of the Pizza hut / KFC building in front of it.
The lower house is made up of district representatives. These reps must end up with more than 50% of the vote in their district, This is determined through a preferential vote, rather than a multi round vote as occurs in some european countries.
The upper house is made up of regional proportional reps. The regionalisation of the Senate proportional vote means that approximately 10% of the regional vote is required to get a candidate in place. The regionalistion of the vote is to stop some areas dominating others and has the effect of keeping the overall % required to get in higher than what can be gotten by fringe extreme groups.
In the US you have 100 senators so for a proportional regional vote you could just have 10 10 seat regions for 10% required or with split terms 5 regions. Alternatively, The senate could remain as is acting as the state representatives while the house of reps is voted for proportionally by the regions (in this case the regions are smaller with some states being large enough to be a region unto them selves).
Re:Not in bookstores, in libraries and newsstands
on
Books on Demand
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· Score: 1
No, I don't see it being appropriate for a library to refund your money for a return. Quite possibly your unique purchase may never be borrowed by anyone else and it costs money for the library to shelve store and later dispose of the book. For example my city library requires 3 requests for a book they do not have before purchasing or a 2 dollar 'donation'.
Unfortunately I see a problem with the magazine issue as well, namely the time taken to print. I will occasionally pick up a bulletin or time magazine but it is a spur of the moment purchase. If I had to stand there for 5+ minutes waiting for it to print then no way.
The news stand could use it as a inventory restocking device though. Have one or two prints of the popular mags on the stand, if they sell then automatically print another. At most this means there will be only 1 or 2 extras.
Re:Break through writers, cheaper text books.
on
Books on Demand
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· Score: 1
The newspaper could also be sold with less adds to these customers who are further away.
The advertisers could also be required to pay more for having wide area readable adds etc. Local advertisers then are not penalised by having to pay for a reader in Uraguay seeing their add for "betty's hair salon"
The purchaser could also ask for the paper without adds at a price or a cut down paper without all the fluffy sections like 'weekend', 'motoring', 'style' etc.
Re:Look and feel matters as much as content
on
Books on Demand
·
· Score: 1
Maybe you could specify quality of paper and binding.
If I choose lowest grade paper and simple binding without colour cover etc, I get the book cheaper, ideal for manuals etc. If I choose highest quality paper and print type as well as full colour cover and the extra optional illustrations, I pay more, ideal for reading in a comfy chair, putting on the shelf and keeping for 'ever'.
The author could get paid based on total sales or extra for better printings etc.
The publisher would really become a database service and the quality of the publishers editors etc will rapidly become quite important.
The ability to browse a book could still be maintained by having a book viewer/s available in store. That would allow brief pre reading for a set time per book download(with a very small amout paid back to the publisher/author for each 5 minute preread etc. Alternatively only a fraction of the book could be available that way.
Maybe the book store could choose the method of previewing or have none at all. A book store with lots of space and comfy chairs and coffee shop etc would probably not mind paying out 50 cents an hour for browser traffic if they also gain income from the non book activities. A book store that used the fractional method could be one that had high throughput and little time to browse, like one on a railway platform etc, the problem then being speed of printing.
My only other concern is Books with mass pictures etc could take forever to print, I can just imagine what the illustrated history of WW2 would cost in time etc to print compared to the (currently) same cost, Tom Clancy all print hardcover.
Slashdot Mirror
I recently bought a new sound system and it wouldn't read recordable CD's from my PC CDRW. I rapidly took it back and got a refund from the Dopiest looking Sales Clerk in the store as I feared being stuck with it. I now take a personally burnt CD with me when looking at stereos and I have burnt one for a friend to use as well for the same purpose.
In the area of agricultural production, there are several western non subsidising (or very low subsidising) countries that can never get a foot in the door of Europe or the the US even with WTO agreements.
It took foot and mouth and it's decimation of swathes of beef cattle in Europe to get Australian beef temporararily accepted into Europe. The US cries foul very loudly when any restriction is put on any of their exports. (Including the situation where the exported item is carrying a disease that does not exist in the target country. I guess the logic behind that is that it is unfair for another country not to have diseases.) At the same time every restriction possible is placed in front of other countries exporting to the US, IE Australian/New Zealand lamb sales.
The US can even be found guilty of illegal practices by the WTO and simply ignore the ruling for a couple of years until rulings with regards to fines are about to be issued. They then relent for a month and then repeat the process all over again. The so called free trade in agriculture movement under the WTO does nothing to support those countries that actually carry it out.
The fact that less than 10% of US agriculture is even remotely small farm operations any more but is instead large agri corporations destroys most of the images they use as an excuse. The europeans at least have used the subsidies and restrictions to maintain the rural societies even if they are inefficient. The US is just doing it to help corporations profits.
Sorry about the rant but there is just a simple false hood in believing that other countries get efficiency by 'almost always treating their workers as brutally as possible', at least in the agricultural sector.
I was under the illusion that if you apply a natural heat gradient acroos a thermo electric material you will actually get power out of it. Obviously no where near as much as the heat energy transferred but could it not be a potential energy source where we already deliberately set up heat gradients. For example a large power station cooling tower could pump the water through the material ( hot on one side ) then allow it to run down the outside cooling with evaporation down the outside (cool on the other side). The towers already do the pumping etc to supply cool water back to the heat exchangers in the turbine house so could it not be used to generate more power from the hot water. If it gained only a few percent of thermal efficiency then that is an unbelievably large $ value in saved fuel costs across an entire nation.
Of course if the material expence is high it may not be cost effective but with the given increases in efficiency it may be.
Just some random thoughts here but.
If we were to place a steel plate out in the sun it will heat up and easily give it's heat up into the thermo electric substance. Now if we were to then put a natural evaporative cooling substance on top of said thermo electric substance we will get a heat gradient across the device. Now if that would then generate a 700w (or even as little as 250w) per centimetre power source (of course each centimetre may need to ride on a 100 by 100 cm sheet of metal) then we have a new form of solar generation.
Using a basic metal plate, this device and a slow drip water supply on top of the device we have a potential boon for certain areas. If the water is actually gathered together on rainy days from the steel plates and we use a capilliary action natural water pump(a raw cotton fibre wick for example) to raise it onto the Thermo electric material then we could conceivable get a fairly low tech solar power supply (also potentially cheaper than existing panels and probably much less efficient).
Would the use of these embedded on metal roofs in tropical regions be useable as a potential power source? The heating effect is there and water is plentiful in some areas. The outflow of heat from the metal heat source could also help cool building roof spaces in these areas.
I am of course assuming that the natural evaporative cooling effect is enough to keep the temperature gradient high. I am also assuming that the power can be easily generated by the material from the temperature gradient, which is what I believe the article states.
2 years and 2 months ago a organised group set up several 10-20 article auctions of office 97 pro and came through on the deals for a while too build up confidence. I unfortunately bought a copy (for my father for Christmass) about 2 weeks after they decided to hammer E-bay with several very large volume auctions that they then refused to supply. After 5 months of back and forward garbage with E-Bay, (Including the fact their consumer fraud page failed for around 6 weeks straight with errors.) a complaint was made by another australian through our consulate regarding non delivery after payments were sent through the mail. Not long after I received emails from a special agent NNNNNN requesting all possible information.
:)
About 14 months ago I was informed a couple had been arrested in Texas on no less than 850 cases of mail fraud as many people had refused to use credit cards but rather used mailed money orders and cheques. I later saw reports in the IT section of our national paper discussing the conviction of a texas couple for E-Bay auction based mail fraud. I assumed that was them. I believe they were given 800 years of jail time, they were to serve a minimum of 5 years with the remainder to run concurrently. The fraud was believed to have netted over $200 000. The whole case was one of the first to actually progress through the courts, as an example. I guess they were lucky, being held in Texas they may or got the chair
When I mentioned it to my father he was a little concerned over them having to do time. How else though would you deter people from doing it again?
They were almost always normal workers working during periods of flood or before harvest. When you have guaranteed planting and flood times you have periods where a large chunk of your population does nothing for 2-4 months of the year.
Many monuments were built by poorer workers who exchanged work on the monuments during flood times and slack farming periods for tax breaks etc. The actual detail work was done by high level artisans employed on a more permanent basis.
Considerable numbers of the monuments were built with Bricks, today small numbers of men can build quite large things with bricks and for the most part the actual techniques are similar. Combine this brickwork for mass wall construction with occasional ten year slad stone projects and itcan easily be done without working anyone to death.
Interesting note- Has anyone else noted that about the best place to take photo's of the Sphinx is from on top of the Pizza hut / KFC building in front of it.
The Australian system, is also interesting.
The lower house is made up of district representatives. These reps must end up with more than 50% of the vote in their district, This is determined through a preferential vote, rather than a multi round vote as occurs in some european countries.
The upper house is made up of regional proportional reps. The regionalisation of the Senate proportional vote means that approximately 10% of the regional vote is required to get a candidate in place. The regionalistion of the vote is to stop some areas dominating others and has the effect of keeping the overall % required to get in higher than what can be gotten by fringe extreme groups.
In the US you have 100 senators so for a proportional regional vote you could just have 10 10 seat regions for 10% required or with split terms 5 regions. Alternatively, The senate could remain as is acting as the state representatives while the house of reps is voted for proportionally by the regions (in this case the regions are smaller with some states being large enough to be a region unto them selves).
Unfortunately I see a problem with the magazine issue as well, namely the time taken to print. I will occasionally pick up a bulletin or time magazine but it is a spur of the moment purchase. If I had to stand there for 5+ minutes waiting for it to print then no way.
The news stand could use it as a inventory restocking device though. Have one or two prints of the popular mags on the stand, if they sell then automatically print another. At most this means there will be only 1 or 2 extras.
The advertisers could also be required to pay more for having wide area readable adds etc. Local advertisers then are not penalised by having to pay for a reader in Uraguay seeing their add for "betty's hair salon"
The purchaser could also ask for the paper without adds at a price or a cut down paper without all the fluffy sections like 'weekend', 'motoring', 'style' etc.
If I choose lowest grade paper and simple binding without colour cover etc, I get the book cheaper, ideal for manuals etc. If I choose highest quality paper and print type as well as full colour cover and the extra optional illustrations, I pay more, ideal for reading in a comfy chair, putting on the shelf and keeping for 'ever'.
The author could get paid based on total sales or extra for better printings etc.
The publisher would really become a database service and the quality of the publishers editors etc will rapidly become quite important.
The ability to browse a book could still be maintained by having a book viewer/s available in store. That would allow brief pre reading for a set time per book download(with a very small amout paid back to the publisher/author for each 5 minute preread etc. Alternatively only a fraction of the book could be available that way.
Maybe the book store could choose the method of previewing or have none at all. A book store with lots of space and comfy chairs and coffee shop etc would probably not mind paying out 50 cents an hour for browser traffic if they also gain income from the non book activities. A book store that used the fractional method could be one that had high throughput and little time to browse, like one on a railway platform etc, the problem then being speed of printing.
My only other concern is Books with mass pictures etc could take forever to print, I can just imagine what the illustrated history of WW2 would cost in time etc to print compared to the (currently) same cost, Tom Clancy all print hardcover.