What strikes me most immediately about the phenomenon of offshore outsourcing is the low level of the outcry about it in the mainstream media. Just one more revolution of the vicious circle - the global economy's levelling effect. Maybe even schadenfreude that it's happening to a highly-paid sector of the economy. But in RTFA, they make the comment that in the last offshore wave, the service-sector economy replaced the manufacturing economy, providing a soft landing. This time, they suggest, is the "structural" adjustment for which there doesn't seem to be another soft landing on the way.
The problem is in the Friedman-esque incentives that make it preferable for this to happen rather than to keep the jobs at home. I don't want to seem a wild booster of the US economy in this one - it's pretty much every country for itself out there - but the structural adjustment the article refers to hollows out the competence base of American IT. From there, I worry about the stock of high-value jobs and the follow-on impact that this will have on the US economy in strange places, like university tuition and social security funding.
No doubt it's coming, but it seems to me that the CIOs aren't operating with sufficient perspective to do anything about it. That's why the wider silence is disturbing to me. The CIO articles are definitely worth a read once the/. effect calms down.
It's 35 F here in southern Brazil this morning, but a good book to curl up with is Richard Powers' Plowing the Dark - a combination of VR, art and Middle East politics. Plenty of fictional geekiness - Powers is a programmer.
If the goal is to disseminate this music to people who want to hear it, $20 a pop seems like a lot to me. I don't reckon the Smithsonian makes much money from these sales (bar the odd runaway success?).
I imagine that is to cover the costs of a human being touching every copy they sell, going down the hall to photocopy the liner notes and such. But how about freeing this stuff to Project Gutenberg or sticking it on ibiblio? Much wider access, no human touch required (you could pdf the liner notes) and Moses Asch's mission would be that much closer to home.
And with that much listenable music out on the web, I'd probably never buy another CD again!
There's a long, disused WWII airstrip just off the A3 south of the M25 in Surrey. I used to drive past it every day on the way to work, but you can't see it from the road due to the elevation of the end of the strip. I had no idea it was there until we did a country walk in the area. The public footpath right-of-way goes right down the middle of the airstrip!
There is a strip of metal barrier across the middle of the runway - probably to dissuade use as a dragstrip or to discourage its use by smaller planes. It's pretty impressive to walk right down the centre of an airstrip (the disused terminal is at the Ockham end of the strip, not far from a pretty decent pub).
it looks like his plan to impact the stock price didn't work.
I thought the same thing, but I suppose he was looking for a fast move in the share price on the disaster recovery play. If so, and this took place in early March, he didn't get much of a downturn, did he?
You can visit the Itaipu Dam, the world's largest hydroelectric facility, which will continue to dwarf Three Gorges by many measures.
As a bonus, you are about 10km from the spectacular waterfalls at Foz do Iguaçu, and if you take the dam tour, you get to cross into Paraguay (although they don't let you off the bus).
How to the free solutions, if they exist, compare with their (darned expensive) commercial bretheren in general
Anyone know how expensive "darned expensive" is in this case? Presumably it depends on the number of nodes you license, but I didn't see a price mentioned on the Purchasing page. I guess "if you have to ask..."
Another point is that if you are subsequently reading a Gutenberg text and you find obvious mistakes that even the proofreaders didn't catch, you can send them along and they will be incorporated as a later revision. I've had very fast responses when I have submitted (and documented) such corrections. What's important is that the texts are published.
The beauty of this is that it is in the public domain. If you want a PDF version, or an HTML version, feel free to make one. The Gutenberg standards put the material out in a least common denominated format so anyone has the same freedom.
Slashdot Mirror
What strikes me most immediately about the phenomenon of offshore outsourcing is the low level of the outcry about it in the mainstream media. Just one more revolution of the vicious circle - the global economy's levelling effect. Maybe even schadenfreude that it's happening to a highly-paid sector of the economy. But in RTFA, they make the comment that in the last offshore wave, the service-sector economy replaced the manufacturing economy, providing a soft landing. This time, they suggest, is the "structural" adjustment for which there doesn't seem to be another soft landing on the way.
The problem is in the Friedman-esque incentives that make it preferable for this to happen rather than to keep the jobs at home. I don't want to seem a wild booster of the US economy in this one - it's pretty much every country for itself out there - but the structural adjustment the article refers to hollows out the competence base of American IT. From there, I worry about the stock of high-value jobs and the follow-on impact that this will have on the US economy in strange places, like university tuition and social security funding.
No doubt it's coming, but it seems to me that the CIOs aren't operating with sufficient perspective to do anything about it. That's why the wider silence is disturbing to me. The CIO articles are definitely worth a read once the /. effect calms down.
You go on and on about this like a broken record.
Salon review.
The brief interview that got me interested.
Weird Science?
I imagine that is to cover the costs of a human being touching every copy they sell, going down the hall to photocopy the liner notes and such. But how about freeing this stuff to Project Gutenberg or sticking it on ibiblio? Much wider access, no human touch required (you could pdf the liner notes) and Moses Asch's mission would be that much closer to home.
And with that much listenable music out on the web, I'd probably never buy another CD again!
Presumably they will have to retain the ROW?
There is a strip of metal barrier across the middle of the runway - probably to dissuade use as a dragstrip or to discourage its use by smaller planes. It's pretty impressive to walk right down the centre of an airstrip (the disused terminal is at the Ockham end of the strip, not far from a pretty decent pub).
You can see the strip on this map.
I thought the same thing, but I suppose he was looking for a fast move in the share price on the disaster recovery play. If so, and this took place in early March, he didn't get much of a downturn, did he?
As a bonus, you are about 10km from the spectacular waterfalls at Foz do Iguaçu, and if you take the dam tour, you get to cross into Paraguay (although they don't let you off the bus).
Anyone know how expensive "darned expensive" is in this case? Presumably it depends on the number of nodes you license, but I didn't see a price mentioned on the Purchasing page. I guess "if you have to ask..."
"If enough jammers turn their disaffection into resistance for just one day, November 29 could mark the delivery of a landmark social message."
Another point is that if you are subsequently reading a Gutenberg text and you find obvious mistakes that even the proofreaders didn't catch, you can send them along and they will be incorporated as a later revision. I've had very fast responses when I have submitted (and documented) such corrections. What's important is that the texts are published.
The beauty of this is that it is in the public domain. If you want a PDF version, or an HTML version, feel free to make one. The Gutenberg standards put the material out in a least common denominated format so anyone has the same freedom.