"It's so consumer-unfriendly that I think it's bound to fail -- and when it fails, it will sink whatever new formats content owners are trying to impose."
Could not possibly happen to a nicer bunch of folks...
This setup looks very good. The emphasis on reflection control is very important, especially copying text and images on coated stock.
My first improvement would be daylight-balanced fluorescents (probably circular) rather than straight &/or a bunch of cheap 3M monitor anti-glare screens to polarize the lights. My current preferred lighting is Colortran halogen soft-boxes and a ring light around the lens, but that's specialized and expensive.
I discovered when scanning two-sided pages that backing the subject page with black construction paper effectively kills "bleed-through" of the reverse side. I use a black felt camera table for this reason -- white tables also create uncontrollable glare. Use grey felt for 3d objects.
Most zoom lenses show lowest distortion at mid to high focal lengths. This puts a lot of distance between lens and subject, so I mounted my camera stand upside down. It used to be screwed to the ceiling or wall, but now I have a section of cheap used pallet racking. Overhead mounting works well and stays out of my life most of the time. Digicams are incredibly cheap -- I have three - one on the stand, one for the field and one for backup. Canons are excellent, but HP's stuff is impressive and cheaper -- I suspect that like their laser & inkjet printers much of the camera technology is bought from Canon.
A vacuum table will very effectively flatten single sheets - it can be as simple as pegboard & a shop vac if you make your own. Just turn off the vacuum between shots.
Visit any good local printer if you want to see how a proper copy camera works. they have been doing this for decades.
My old friend Mike Royko (Chicago Sun-Times & Chicago Tribune columnist) always said the key to any story was "follow the money."
"It's a typical monopoly tactic to restrict the supply of something and artifically raise the price against an inelastic demand, and thus gain more revenue"
Is this how we got the Iraq War? The war instantly took Iraq's oil off the market and kept it off. That's about 15-20% of total world production.
Cetainly sounds like a very successful monopoly supply restriction against inelastic demand. If it is, it's no wonder Bush/Cheney won't release the minutes of the 2000-2001 Energy Policy meetings with oil company execs.
Quite true, theheff. Really expensive goods seem ot me to sell best on eBay as "Store Items" not auctions. There are comparatively few buyers at high prices, but exposure is unlimited and some negotiation is possible. I have nego'ed a "Best Offer" up from $1000 to the full $3750.00 listing price.
Part of the fraility of academic eBay analyis is that researchers devoid of practical experience are studying an operation which is seriously contemptuous of the hands that feed it, ie. sellers. What happens on eBay is far less interesting to eBay senior management than what happens to eBay stock on Wall Street.
After a couple thousand auctions, my reaction to TFA is that these profs researched "eBay, the Toy Marketplace," not "eBay, the Business Bazaar." The items they studied were worth peanuts - Pokemon cards and cheap Nikons for instance. And had large volumes, probably because it's easier to peer review & publish statistical analysis of large populations.
Let 'em start some experimental buy/sell in the $500 - $5000 range (spectrophotometers, gas chromatographs, inspection microscopes, Cisco switches) and let's see what they learn. One condition - they must auction, pack and ship the actual goods. No "thought experiments."
Then they'll have results worth applying.
For what it's worth, when I got my MBA in the late 1970's we had only one weathy prof -- but he owned/ran Continental Airlines, a very large autoparts OEM, an international copper mining conglomerate, a large chunk of Las Vegas AND one of the Hawaiian Islands. Taught me that the best way to get rich is to be born wealthy and work hard. Bill Gates comes to mind in that respect too, but not IMHO such a great guy to have a beer with.
The spaceport is in Florida because of Claude Pepper, powerful member of the US House from Florida, who served for over 30 years from 1962 to sometime in the 1990's. He nsisted the spaceport be located in his state. Because he controlled a powerful committee, he got his way -- almost always and on almost everything. His career inspired later pork-stars such as Rep Stevens (Alaska).
For what it's worth, September 8 is Claude's birthday.
"they were able to take a man for years and later use the recordings as little more than blackmail. Insert terrorist instead of communist and what do you get: 21st century America."
Substitute uncooperative Senator or Congressperson for communist or terrorist and what do you get: J Edgar Hoover and Sen. Jos. McCarthy.
Just another skirmish in the War on Intelligence being waged and won by the Mundanes.
Wanna bet almost all the actors in this sad drama are well below the IQ level to do real intellectual work? IMHO, that's 140+ and I have studied with enough Nobel Laureates to know that terrain at least a little.
I'm personally convinced the population of mundanes includes nearly all HS teachers (science included) & administrators, school board members, Congress, cops & most lawyers, consumer safety advocates and insurance actuaries. These people act on fear and depend on fear to keep themselves employed. They probably hated the "smart kid" in high school and feel smugly justified in using any opportunity to "prove" the validity of their prejudice and suspicions.
Being exceptionally smart in America is politically worse than AIDS. There are at least some unafflicted who support the AIDS-infected. The "overly smart" are, well... expendable.
Offhand, cubic dollars were the primary fuel. For decades the MIT Forum has tried to jump-start tech ventures with moderate success, and across the country it pretty much looks the same. San Jose got rich by unique circumstances.
My favorite line: Many have tried, most have died. Usually fron silicone confusion.
The essential element is a MARKET for the output of the venture, even if it's just a busines plan (i.e., investors to buy in). There must also be a local buyer for the PRODUCT. The Internet crowd thinks this is just silly, but read on.
LOCAL Vendors/LOCAL customers. The quintessential SV firms had smart local customers who helped re-design their products and a supplier base that fine-tuned their production machinery. And a local consulting base (largely Stanford) that advised, invested AND promoted. PLUS buckets of Federal contract money irrigating the defense/aerospace/electronics complex with remarkably sloppy accounting controls.
Lotsa Cheap Technicians. Thousands of guys got jobs in SV after technical service in the Air Force & Navy. Liked the area and stayed put. Goes for San Diego too.
Don't underestimate the booster role played by San Jose Mercury. Coverage = credibility. Just try to place a startup sales-success story in the Chicago Tribune!
IMHO the financial and human resources the rest of the USA poured into SV were the deciding factors along with the talents of Stanford's EE profs promoting their students into Federal contracts.
For maybe forty years the MIT Forum (a volunteer alumni operation) has attempted with moderate success to cultivate mini SV's across the country. Anyone care to comment on their success?
Yes, but IMHO not the technology you blame. CL-, produced by ultraviolet CFC breakdown is known to destroy ozone, but to my knowledge (2MK)no transport mechanism has ever been proven that carries CFCs and/or their decomposition products up to the levels of the ozone.
So, what radicals DO prosess a transport mechanism to achieve elevated altitudes? Well, NO- for one -- it's a product of jet aircraft and ballistic missiles (including the Space Shuttle launch vehicle).
My private bet is that modern military & commercial aircraft are the true depleters of ozone. And there are thousands of them aloft 24 hours a day, each burning hydrocarbon fuels less efficiently than a 1964 Pontiac GTO.
Second the motion to contact the vendor's senior executives. Also major shareholders if you can find them.
Plus letters to editors of trade magazines these people advertise in -- let them know you bought becuse the outfit advertised in thier mag and you assumed they were reputable by reason of the association.
Don't forget to call the membership coordinator of whatever trade association your company belongs to (you do join associations, right?).
Most market-savvy execs understand a little stink goes a very long way, and quite quickly.
Most customer service and tech reps understand nothing about business relationships and reputations.
It's old news, but high schools and colleges are largely mechanical institutions which process children (an infinitely renewable resource). Anyone who isn't "in charge" is expendable. Students are 'transients,' unlikely to be remembered and consequently of little importance. And most of the "knowedge" your teachers present will be proven wrong before you get your first full-time job.
So, ask first, what can this place do best for me? and how do I get that to happen? In high school, that means launching you as soon as possible into a college suited first to your personality, and second to your career goal of the moment. If you can move along in tow years, do it! Explore all the fields that interest -- music, art, sports (if geeks are permitted in your school), and join the Debate Society. Adult Life is largely argument, so get good at it now.
What colleges do best is get you ready to be found by life -- so make friends in the job placement offices in your first semester -- they "guard the gates" to the best summer internships and the best job interviews. Who knows you is more important than what you know.
Ask second, what will this place do worst for me? And how do I avoid that? Mostly high school damage is done by mindless "tracking" into well-worn academic ruts and living with idiots too long. 90% of teachers boast SAT scores in the bottom 20% of their college class as of 1970 (bottom 10% in 1990)(source -- The College Board ). Go make friends with someone with a broader point of view than your own.
Keep in mind that ability plus obedience make you no more than a tool for someone else's ambition, so don't value too highly the phony value of engineering and science -- all technology is disposable and very few technologists establish stable careers without becoming managers. Those who do can always get a Pakistani to do your job for 30% of your salary.
Lastly, the Cardinal's Rule --The appearance of competence creates the obligation to perform. Unless you really want to be one who fixes the stuff everyone in your live messes up, be careful about showing off your knowledge. Tech support sucks!
In fact, the problem with the sealed atmosphere at Biosphere 2 turned out to be oxygen adsorption by all that reinforced concrete. High CO and CO2 levels were artifacts of DEPLETED O2.
There's a message about data interpretation in that for all you global warming and greenhouse gas fanatics.
Slashdot Mirror
"It's so consumer-unfriendly that I think it's bound to fail -- and when it fails, it will sink whatever new formats content owners are trying to impose."
Could not possibly happen to a nicer bunch of folks...
Code from cloned programmers?
Oh, wait -- that would be redundant compared to using programmers in India & China.
Many American programmers are already "well-marbled." Would they be more valuable if they were reliably tasty?
Beef eats corn. People eat beef. Corporations eat people.
By the time this crowd is done we'll be eating our tinfoil, not wearing it.
What does the Administration know about Senators, Congresspersons & Staff and when did they know it?
The Bushies gotta have something on these folks to keep them so compliant.
Excellent link, Kalak.
This setup looks very good. The emphasis on reflection control is very important, especially copying text and images on coated stock.
My first improvement would be daylight-balanced fluorescents (probably circular) rather than straight &/or a bunch of cheap 3M monitor anti-glare screens to polarize the lights. My current preferred lighting is Colortran halogen soft-boxes and a ring light around the lens, but that's specialized and expensive.
I discovered when scanning two-sided pages that backing the subject page with black construction paper effectively kills "bleed-through" of the reverse side. I use a black felt camera table for this reason -- white tables also create uncontrollable glare. Use grey felt for 3d objects.
Most zoom lenses show lowest distortion at mid to high focal lengths. This puts a lot of distance between lens and subject, so I mounted my camera stand upside down. It used to be screwed to the ceiling or wall, but now I have a section of cheap used pallet racking. Overhead mounting works well and stays out of my life most of the time. Digicams are incredibly cheap -- I have three - one on the stand, one for the field and one for backup. Canons are excellent, but HP's stuff is impressive and cheaper -- I suspect that like their laser & inkjet printers much of the camera technology is bought from Canon.
A vacuum table will very effectively flatten single sheets - it can be as simple as pegboard & a shop vac if you make your own. Just turn off the vacuum between shots.
Visit any good local printer if you want to see how a proper copy camera works. they have been doing this for decades.
Is this how we got the Iraq War? The war instantly took Iraq's oil off the market and kept it off. That's about 15-20% of total world production.
Cetainly sounds like a very successful monopoly supply restriction against inelastic demand. If it is, it's no wonder Bush/Cheney won't release the minutes of the 2000-2001 Energy Policy meetings with oil company execs.
Quite true, theheff. Really expensive goods seem ot me to sell best on eBay as "Store Items" not auctions. There are comparatively few buyers at high prices, but exposure is unlimited and some negotiation is possible. I have nego'ed a "Best Offer" up from $1000 to the full $3750.00 listing price.
Part of the fraility of academic eBay analyis is that researchers devoid of practical experience are studying an operation which is seriously contemptuous of the hands that feed it, ie. sellers. What happens on eBay is far less interesting to eBay senior management than what happens to eBay stock on Wall Street.
After a couple thousand auctions, my reaction to TFA is that these profs researched "eBay, the Toy Marketplace," not "eBay, the Business Bazaar." The items they studied were worth peanuts - Pokemon cards and cheap Nikons for instance. And had large volumes, probably because it's easier to peer review & publish statistical analysis of large populations.
Let 'em start some experimental buy/sell in the $500 - $5000 range (spectrophotometers, gas chromatographs, inspection microscopes, Cisco switches) and let's see what they learn. One condition - they must auction, pack and ship the actual goods. No "thought experiments."
Then they'll have results worth applying.
For what it's worth, when I got my MBA in the late 1970's we had only one weathy prof -- but he owned/ran Continental Airlines, a very large autoparts OEM, an international copper mining conglomerate, a large chunk of Las Vegas AND one of the Hawaiian Islands. Taught me that the best way to get rich is to be born wealthy and work hard. Bill Gates comes to mind in that respect too, but not IMHO such a great guy to have a beer with.
The spaceport is in Florida because of Claude Pepper, powerful member of the US House from Florida, who served for over 30 years from 1962 to sometime in the 1990's. He nsisted the spaceport be located in his state. Because he controlled a powerful committee, he got his way -- almost always and on almost everything. His career inspired later pork-stars such as Rep Stevens (Alaska).
For what it's worth, September 8 is Claude's birthday.
Gentlemen, Launch your Pork!
Nope.
These chips/boards will go first to Lockheed, Raytheon & company for smarter bombs, unmanned aircraft, etc. Then NSA for communications surveillance.
Get ready to welcome your Terminator 1 overlords, weaklings.
Why bigger screens? Here's why:
Small screen fonts.
Older eyes.
Bigger wallets.
If you don't think bigger is better I have a wall of Mac 128/512/SE & SE30 screens waiting for you...
Trust? Trust Davis Freeberg to reject corporate viral propaganda...
/. skeptics when we need them - asleep on a Saturday morning? Do geeks really get Labor Day holidays?
/. pure and uncontaminated by invitations to absorb another 40NB of corporate propaganda.
Who Is Davis Freeberg? Is he(she?) as phoney as this story? Please, someone, run a D&B or google on this character quick. I for one demand the Truth!
Where are the
On, Cowboy Neal, we trusted you to keep our beloved
Oh, damn. Never mind... it's the Trust No One Department.
"they were able to take a man for years and later use the recordings as little more than blackmail. Insert terrorist instead of communist and what do you get: 21st century America."
Substitute uncooperative Senator or Congressperson for communist or terrorist and what do you get: J Edgar Hoover and Sen. Jos. McCarthy.
But the big money is in the demo disks to be shipped to the stores. Only 2000 of those, but much higher dollar density!
All your computers are belong us..
Reboot required
Reboot required
I'm personally convinced the population of mundanes includes nearly all HS teachers (science included) & administrators, school board members, Congress, cops & most lawyers, consumer safety advocates and insurance actuaries. These people act on fear and depend on fear to keep themselves employed. They probably hated the "smart kid" in high school and feel smugly justified in using any opportunity to "prove" the validity of their prejudice and suspicions.
Being exceptionally smart in America is politically worse than AIDS. There are at least some unafflicted who support the AIDS-infected. The "overly smart" are, well... expendable.
My favorite line: Many have tried, most have died. Usually fron silicone confusion.
The essential element is a MARKET for the output of the venture, even if it's just a busines plan (i.e., investors to buy in). There must also be a local buyer for the PRODUCT. The Internet crowd thinks this is just silly, but read on.
LOCAL Vendors/LOCAL customers. The quintessential SV firms had smart local customers who helped re-design their products and a supplier base that fine-tuned their production machinery. And a local consulting base (largely Stanford) that advised, invested AND promoted. PLUS buckets of Federal contract money irrigating the defense/aerospace/electronics complex with remarkably sloppy accounting controls.
Lotsa Cheap Technicians. Thousands of guys got jobs in SV after technical service in the Air Force & Navy. Liked the area and stayed put. Goes for San Diego too. Don't underestimate the booster role played by San Jose Mercury. Coverage = credibility. Just try to place a startup sales-success story in the Chicago Tribune!
IMHO the financial and human resources the rest of the USA poured into SV were the deciding factors along with the talents of Stanford's EE profs promoting their students into Federal contracts.
For maybe forty years the MIT Forum (a volunteer alumni operation) has attempted with moderate success to cultivate mini SV's across the country. Anyone care to comment on their success?
Yes, but IMHO not the technology you blame. CL-, produced by ultraviolet CFC breakdown is known to destroy ozone, but to my knowledge (2MK)no transport mechanism has ever been proven that carries CFCs and/or their decomposition products up to the levels of the ozone. So, what radicals DO prosess a transport mechanism to achieve elevated altitudes? Well, NO- for one -- it's a product of jet aircraft and ballistic missiles (including the Space Shuttle launch vehicle). My private bet is that modern military & commercial aircraft are the true depleters of ozone. And there are thousands of them aloft 24 hours a day, each burning hydrocarbon fuels less efficiently than a 1964 Pontiac GTO.
Let's not forget that Universities are in the business of currying favor with donors and legislatures. Oversupplying the labor pool is "quid pro quo."
Second the motion to contact the vendor's senior executives. Also major shareholders if you can find them. Plus letters to editors of trade magazines these people advertise in -- let them know you bought becuse the outfit advertised in thier mag and you assumed they were reputable by reason of the association. Don't forget to call the membership coordinator of whatever trade association your company belongs to (you do join associations, right?). Most market-savvy execs understand a little stink goes a very long way, and quite quickly. Most customer service and tech reps understand nothing about business relationships and reputations.
It's old news, but high schools and colleges are largely mechanical institutions which process children (an infinitely renewable resource). Anyone who isn't "in charge" is expendable. Students are 'transients,' unlikely to be remembered and consequently of little importance. And most of the "knowedge" your teachers present will be proven wrong before you get your first full-time job. So, ask first, what can this place do best for me? and how do I get that to happen? In high school, that means launching you as soon as possible into a college suited first to your personality, and second to your career goal of the moment. If you can move along in tow years, do it! Explore all the fields that interest -- music, art, sports (if geeks are permitted in your school), and join the Debate Society. Adult Life is largely argument, so get good at it now. What colleges do best is get you ready to be found by life -- so make friends in the job placement offices in your first semester -- they "guard the gates" to the best summer internships and the best job interviews. Who knows you is more important than what you know. Ask second, what will this place do worst for me? And how do I avoid that? Mostly high school damage is done by mindless "tracking" into well-worn academic ruts and living with idiots too long. 90% of teachers boast SAT scores in the bottom 20% of their college class as of 1970 (bottom 10% in 1990)(source -- The College Board ). Go make friends with someone with a broader point of view than your own. Keep in mind that ability plus obedience make you no more than a tool for someone else's ambition, so don't value too highly the phony value of engineering and science -- all technology is disposable and very few technologists establish stable careers without becoming managers. Those who do can always get a Pakistani to do your job for 30% of your salary. Lastly, the Cardinal's Rule --The appearance of competence creates the obligation to perform. Unless you really want to be one who fixes the stuff everyone in your live messes up, be careful about showing off your knowledge. Tech support sucks!
In fact, the problem with the sealed atmosphere at Biosphere 2 turned out to be oxygen adsorption by all that reinforced concrete. High CO and CO2 levels were artifacts of DEPLETED O2.
There's a message about data interpretation in that for all you global warming and greenhouse gas fanatics.