My favorite was the Ghost Gun. This was a gun shaped toy that had a flashlight inside it and you put a strip of transparent ghosts inside it (like a film negative). The light then projected the ghost image on the wall, and when you pulled the trigger, some sort of pis would put a hole in the transparency. It would look like you shot the ghost. I think I got this for Christmas around '75 or '76.
Your analogy of an accountant has no relevance because there is nothing of value that is redistributable. To me, a service has no future vale, only present value. There would be no gain for me to take my taxes (preparation paid for by me to the accountant) and then give those tax forms to you. Similarly, a server in a restaurant provided a service to my by bringing my drink and food. Sure, I could provide a service to you by turning to you at the next table, and then selling my burger and coke to you (at a marked up price of course), but then I have no "product" avalable to sell to anyone else, hence (my) definition of a service.
How is software different? Because it maintains a future value. The software is usefull to you, and the next guy, and so on... Hence, software is a product, not a service. The process of contract development of software may be a service, but not the completed product.
I can think of two factories, but you might need to pull some strings to get into them. First...see a steel mill. They are loud, smelly and dirty but watching several hundred tons of melted metal being poured out of a huge ladle is something that just has to impress you. The other one is try to get into the General Motors Electomotive Division locomotive assembly facility in London, Ontario. Locomotives are something that we all see everyday, but usually from a distance. The process of building a train locomotive as absolutly astounding!!! The deisel engines on these things a HUGE! More than 400 cu in PER CYLINDER.....20 cylinders! Plus the final assembly involves lifting the entire finished locomotive using an overhead crane, and placing it on the tracks that lead out of the building.
My favourite experiment was when my chemistry teacher was introducing us to liquid nitrogen. As he was talking he had a large thermos of the stuff sitting on the table. He put on his lab gloves as he was talking, and then put his had into the thermos with his first finger dipped into the nitrogen. When he got the part where he was explaining how objects soaked in nitrogen turn brittle, he pulled his hand out of the thermos, and smacked his first finger against the edge of the counter. The collective gasp from the students when his finger shattered was followed by total silence (or was there some screaming too?). What he has done is "loaded" the glove with a piece of sausage in the finger of the glove - when he had his hand in the nitrogen, it was safely curled up in a fist! Needless to say, the demonstration was effective, and we were all very carefull when handling liquid nitrogen.
Slashdot Mirror
Microsoft is happy to pay for surveys.
My favorite was the Ghost Gun. This was a gun shaped toy that had a flashlight inside it and you put a strip of transparent ghosts inside it (like a film negative). The light then projected the ghost image on the wall, and when you pulled the trigger, some sort of pis would put a hole in the transparency. It would look like you shot the ghost. I think I got this for Christmas around '75 or '76.
Your analogy of an accountant has no relevance because there is nothing of value that is redistributable. To me, a service has no future vale, only present value. There would be no gain for me to take my taxes (preparation paid for by me to the accountant) and then give those tax forms to you. Similarly, a server in a restaurant provided a service to my by bringing my drink and food. Sure, I could provide a service to you by turning to you at the next table, and then selling my burger and coke to you (at a marked up price of course), but then I have no "product" avalable to sell to anyone else, hence (my) definition of a service.
How is software different? Because it maintains a future value. The software is usefull to you, and the next guy, and so on... Hence, software is a product, not a service. The process of contract development of software may be a service, but not the completed product.
if you reply with a funny joke about sex
Fuck Microsoft Internet Explorer!
I can think of two factories, but you might need to pull some strings to get into them. First...see a steel mill. They are loud, smelly and dirty but watching several hundred tons of melted metal being poured out of a huge ladle is something that just has to impress you. The other one is try to get into the General Motors Electomotive Division locomotive assembly facility in London, Ontario. Locomotives are something that we all see everyday, but usually from a distance. The process of building a train locomotive as absolutly astounding!!! The deisel engines on these things a HUGE! More than 400 cu in PER CYLINDER.....20 cylinders! Plus the final assembly involves lifting the entire finished locomotive using an overhead crane, and placing it on the tracks that lead out of the building.
My favourite experiment was when my chemistry teacher was introducing us to liquid nitrogen. As he was talking he had a large thermos of the stuff sitting on the table. He put on his lab gloves as he was talking, and then put his had into the thermos with his first finger dipped into the nitrogen. When he got the part where he was explaining how objects soaked in nitrogen turn brittle, he pulled his hand out of the thermos, and smacked his first finger against the edge of the counter. The collective gasp from the students when his finger shattered was followed by total silence (or was there some screaming too?). What he has done is "loaded" the glove with a piece of sausage in the finger of the glove - when he had his hand in the nitrogen, it was safely curled up in a fist! Needless to say, the demonstration was effective, and we were all very carefull when handling liquid nitrogen.
Check out these little guys.....
PIAB vacuum pumps
I have used them on automation equipment before.
A small home air compressor is all you need.
Just publish the .iso image, and ask everyone on /. to burn a copy and mail it to you! You should have more copies than you can handle in about a week.
Is it just me, or did anyone else find themselves yawning while reading this thread?