Indeed... notwithstanding the sheer diversity of artists who've covered his music, adding their own interpretation and musical style to it, and pleasing audiences that don't like McCartney the man at all.
He gave the Stones a big hit in the early sixties (I Wanna Be Your Man) and has penned material with Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, taken part in fundraising for numerous charities, etc.
Say what you like about McCartney's music (particularly his solo career). One thing that sets him apart from Elvis, Lennon, Cliff Richard or even Mick Jagger is his pure songwriting output. He's penned most material on his 21 albums, he was a key catalyst in getting the best out of Lennon/McCartney collaboration and some books even go so far as to make him the "number one" Beatle.
His music has been commercially successful over four decades, so he spans a longer career than Elton John, Billy Joel or Jimmy Buffett. He's been with a major label - EMI - and been through vinyl, cassette, CD and now MP3/AAC digital formats. He is a songwriter as well as a musician, and he has a big catalogue.
So, it's refreshing to hear him state that the music business is out of marketing ideas and out of tune with possibilities. Even if you don't like him...
In reponse to "everything else seems clumsy": this is clearly subjective. If you've worked with a given toolset for 10 years then you'll need months to feel at home with another toolset.
This is not to say that Photoshop isn't excellent; I've tried Gimpshop (which is supposed to make the transition easier) but it takes far more time to accomplish a task because I'm so used to Photoshop. However, finding a few basic effects & treatments to create web graphics is possible in both tools. Photoshop has better usability (the learning curve certainly seems smoother) but since I know it so well, it's difficult to be objective.
I was a user of Corel Photopaint for a long time, and found Photoshop to be clumsy when I transitioned, but this effect lasted for about a month. I've never had a month to dedicate to getting into the Gimp, but maybe the same would be true. Subjectively, some things aren't as easy to do in Gimp, and a lot of that is to do with the relatively poor window management in GTK2 compared to Windows/Mac native windowing - but again, this is not objective since I'm also more familiar with Windows & Mac UI widgets.
A lot of people expect Office to be included with Windows. It isn't.
A lot of people expect Outlook to be included with Windows. It isn't (but it is free).
A lot of people expect all their hardware to work first time. It doesn't. Even if you get an OEM bundle, sometimes just the order you actually start to use stuff / plug it in can cause glitches. A noob could hose a USB pendrive by just unplugging it during a big write, for example.
I don't think Linux is any different from Windows in that regard, especially given that this is an OEM offering, not a DIY install. Funnily enough, in a curious world, if Dell support "get" Linux, they may be able to better support it - compared to Windows - over time. If they have a standardised distro, then being able to read logs from clients (via email, VNC, whatever) may be more useful than the crap that Windows gives you in guise of error messages & debug information. They could recommend alternative free software, rather than having to continue supporting old apps "because they came with the machine and I don't want to upgrade", etc etc.
Shame the linux kernel took "printer on fire" out though, huh?
A Cintiq looks great, but it's not like a crummy laptop screen.
And it looks like it can be tilted correctly, so that you can "write" / draw on it properly.
You're right about pressure sensitivity too, hadn't thought of that (not being a Wacom user or designer, although I use Photoshop for serious photo touch-up, I'm not someone who'll draw / illustrate in software)
A serious graphic artist probably wants a CRT for accurate colour, gamma, etc. And at least an A4 Wacom if they prefer drawing, but on a horizontal rather than vertical surface.
Most pros I know use a Wacom in Photoshop or Illustrator, but mostly they're mouse people.
I can't imagine that a serious Photoshopper would want to use an LCD screen and draw on it with a stylus, it's just not accurate enough.
I've seen a lot of people saying InnoDB is slower, but last time I converted a forum from MyISAM to InnoDB it was *faster* on reads, it was the writes that were slower...
IIRC, the PSU wasn't in the case - it had an external PSU to give 6V DC or thereabouts into a 3.5mm mini jack connector for power. When the PSU got hot, maybe the power got dirty, or maybe the machine itself did get hot. Mostly it was the 16K RAM pack that got hot though, and became unstable.
Yes now you mention it, you're right. But I still thought of them as sprites, I used to think of "sprite" clashing. What's the difference, in the end? Character placeholders are "virtual" 8x8 sprites, if you mess around in your code anyway, no?
I started with a Sinclair ZX81, 1Kb of RAM expanded to 16Kb with a "RAM pack" that had an edge connector to the main PCB inside. It got hot (as did the power supply) and was often unstable. You could suddenly lose everything you were working on because the system just froze.
Along came the ZX Spectrum, 48Kb (and later 128Kb) with 8 colours (the ZX81 was black & white), sprites (the ZX81 was limited to the built in character set which included blocks & things until someone worked out how to hack that) and rubber keys (the ZX81 had touch sensitive membrane things).
It was a revolution, at my school we swapped tapes which didn't always load, had multiface cartridges to enter POKEs (changing a value at a particular memory address) for cheats and in order to create backups... and a big magazine scene.
I even ran an emulator on my PC to play one game in particular: the game that everyone tried to beat, and still fiendishly hard (and created by a mysterious genius who "disappeared", Matthew Smith) : Manic Miner (link to a Windows version).
It's more complicated than you think. New track had to be laid to get the Eurostar up to high speed in the UK. Current track will not support high speed trains, and often curves in existing track beds etc. are too sharp for higher speeds. So new engineering needs to happen, new routing, etc. This quite often means displacing people since average population density is quite high, and NIMBYism very prevalent.
A lot of people want faster services, and a lot of businessmen (like Richard Branson & Virgin) have tried...
Running a TGV fast on recently installed track (this is the new line going out to the east of France from Paris to Strasbourg, an area of France previously not served by high speed trains.
You can go from Paris to London in Eurostar (also a TGV equivalent) in 2:40 right now, and it will be 2:20 soon. That's about 280 miles, with a tunnel under the English Channel... you can do Paris-Marseille (480 miles) in 3 hours, because there's more track where you can really stay at high speed. The tunnel and the UK side of the tracks means that the Eurostar doesn't spend too much time at 300km/h which is about the top service speed, usually.
The average return on investment on Search Engine Optimisation (generally: increasing your search position on specific keywords relevant to your business) can be about 10x more than the return on keyword purchasing, which can cost 0.30c - several dollars. Every click costs money.
Once you've optimised to your keywords in "natural search" e.g. *free* results, then your investment keeps paying (you need to maintain positions of course, but this is lower cost, especially if you're in a niche) whereas in paid advertising you have to keep giving money to Google and, in competitive industries, your cost per click will be subject to significant inflation...
Euh... Slashdot is still a news site, where people would come to react to the news at least, not somewhere you would go to relax (under those specific circumstances I mean).
You're right about that. I was in Morocco at the time, and most people went home to watch CNN rather than looking on the net anyway. Traffic to news sites was affected, but like you say, the BBC worked for a lot longer than CNN or MSNBC sites; many leisure sites didn't even look affected at all (aside from a homepage special on relaying news)...
I remember you couldn't get anywhere on news sites during the 9/11 attacks on the WTC; even Google was horrendously slow. Non news sites all started relaying the news so that people could get hold of information.
Working from home in times past relied on dialling direct to a modem pool at the office. The telephone network could probably handle a fair amount of teleworking like that, particularly if the old school model of connecting, uploading and downloading email & files, and then disconnecting was adopted.
If there were a pandemic, I doubt that people would necessarily be surfing YouTube. It'd be no loss to me to not have that kind of site available anyway:-).
Sounds a lot like scaremongering to me. In the event of a pandemic, net habits would change beyond recognition, so mentioning high bandwidth leisuretime sites seems a bit strange. It's not out of the question that certain services could be restricted though... but you can't analyse current surfing habits and apply them to bandwidth use when teleworking. If I'm working from home I'm not on YouTube, and use very little bandwidth.
On the album with "Take It Away" (I think it's Tug of War) there's a song "Get It"... not related to "Come and Get It" which is admittedly on Anthology 3.
Live music died a little though. Less musicians make a living playing in front of the public. My father used to be able to go out 3 nights a week and get paid for live music, he can't now. Yes, the market was for less talented musicians, but today nowhere will pay as much for live music because people are less interested. So the distribution is no longer for "live" but for "recorded" music.
Yes there's a following for those who like the charm of the true live sound, but less places have live music than before. Musicians can still make a living, but times change. You can't stop the progress of time, and live music has become more of a niche market for the best live musicians. But the threat to a certain type of musician (the pub band, the pub pianist) has been replaced by other types, and the money gets redistributed differently.
Slashdot Mirror
That's enough for me.
Indeed... notwithstanding the sheer diversity of artists who've covered his music, adding their own interpretation and musical style to it, and pleasing audiences that don't like McCartney the man at all.
He gave the Stones a big hit in the early sixties (I Wanna Be Your Man) and has penned material with Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, taken part in fundraising for numerous charities, etc.
Say what you like about McCartney's music (particularly his solo career). One thing that sets him apart from Elvis, Lennon, Cliff Richard or even Mick Jagger is his pure songwriting output. He's penned most material on his 21 albums, he was a key catalyst in getting the best out of Lennon/McCartney collaboration and some books even go so far as to make him the "number one" Beatle.
His music has been commercially successful over four decades, so he spans a longer career than Elton John, Billy Joel or Jimmy Buffett. He's been with a major label - EMI - and been through vinyl, cassette, CD and now MP3/AAC digital formats. He is a songwriter as well as a musician, and he has a big catalogue.
So, it's refreshing to hear him state that the music business is out of marketing ideas and out of tune with possibilities. Even if you don't like him...
In reponse to "everything else seems clumsy": this is clearly subjective. If you've worked with a given toolset for 10 years then you'll need months to feel at home with another toolset.
This is not to say that Photoshop isn't excellent; I've tried Gimpshop (which is supposed to make the transition easier) but it takes far more time to accomplish a task because I'm so used to Photoshop. However, finding a few basic effects & treatments to create web graphics is possible in both tools. Photoshop has better usability (the learning curve certainly seems smoother) but since I know it so well, it's difficult to be objective.
I was a user of Corel Photopaint for a long time, and found Photoshop to be clumsy when I transitioned, but this effect lasted for about a month. I've never had a month to dedicate to getting into the Gimp, but maybe the same would be true. Subjectively, some things aren't as easy to do in Gimp, and a lot of that is to do with the relatively poor window management in GTK2 compared to Windows/Mac native windowing - but again, this is not objective since I'm also more familiar with Windows & Mac UI widgets.
You used to be able to download Outlook for free, it's no longer the case. My bad.
Yeah, like Windows "just works".
I don't think Linux is any different from Windows in that regard, especially given that this is an OEM offering, not a DIY install. Funnily enough, in a curious world, if Dell support "get" Linux, they may be able to better support it - compared to Windows - over time. If they have a standardised distro, then being able to read logs from clients (via email, VNC, whatever) may be more useful than the crap that Windows gives you in guise of error messages & debug information. They could recommend alternative free software, rather than having to continue supporting old apps "because they came with the machine and I don't want to upgrade", etc etc.
Shame the linux kernel took "printer on fire" out though, huh?
Hack the hardware? Have you any idea how complicated graphics cards and 3D acceleration is when you have no specification on the hardware at all?
A Cintiq looks great, but it's not like a crummy laptop screen.
And it looks like it can be tilted correctly, so that you can "write" / draw on it properly.
You're right about pressure sensitivity too, hadn't thought of that (not being a Wacom user or designer, although I use Photoshop for serious photo touch-up, I'm not someone who'll draw / illustrate in software)
A serious graphic artist probably wants a CRT for accurate colour, gamma, etc. And at least an A4 Wacom if they prefer drawing, but on a horizontal rather than vertical surface.
Most pros I know use a Wacom in Photoshop or Illustrator, but mostly they're mouse people.
I can't imagine that a serious Photoshopper would want to use an LCD screen and draw on it with a stylus, it's just not accurate enough.
I've seen a lot of people saying InnoDB is slower, but last time I converted a forum from MyISAM to InnoDB it was *faster* on reads, it was the writes that were slower...
And, of course, it didn't crash all the time.
IIRC, the PSU wasn't in the case - it had an external PSU to give 6V DC or thereabouts into a 3.5mm mini jack connector for power. When the PSU got hot, maybe the power got dirty, or maybe the machine itself did get hot. Mostly it was the 16K RAM pack that got hot though, and became unstable.
Yes now you mention it, you're right. But I still thought of them as sprites, I used to think of "sprite" clashing. What's the difference, in the end? Character placeholders are "virtual" 8x8 sprites, if you mess around in your code anyway, no?
I started with a Sinclair ZX81, 1Kb of RAM expanded to 16Kb with a "RAM pack" that had an edge connector to the main PCB inside. It got hot (as did the power supply) and was often unstable. You could suddenly lose everything you were working on because the system just froze.
Along came the ZX Spectrum, 48Kb (and later 128Kb) with 8 colours (the ZX81 was black & white), sprites (the ZX81 was limited to the built in character set which included blocks & things until someone worked out how to hack that) and rubber keys (the ZX81 had touch sensitive membrane things).
It was a revolution, at my school we swapped tapes which didn't always load, had multiface cartridges to enter POKEs (changing a value at a particular memory address) for cheats and in order to create backups... and a big magazine scene.
I even ran an emulator on my PC to play one game in particular: the game that everyone tried to beat, and still fiendishly hard (and created by a mysterious genius who "disappeared", Matthew Smith) : Manic Miner (link to a Windows version).
Those were the days. The UK 8 bit scene was dominated by this machine.
You say "the top 1% of the American population controls 95% of the wealth"
The article you quote says "The top 1 percent owns over 38 percent of the nation's wealth"
You got confused with "The top 1 percent's financial wealth is equal to that of the bottom 95 percent" which is not the same.
"did throw significant change at biz apps like the Vista operating system"
I call BS immediately. Nothing to see here, move along.
It's more complicated than you think. New track had to be laid to get the Eurostar up to high speed in the UK. Current track will not support high speed trains, and often curves in existing track beds etc. are too sharp for higher speeds. So new engineering needs to happen, new routing, etc. This quite often means displacing people since average population density is quite high, and NIMBYism very prevalent.
A lot of people want faster services, and a lot of businessmen (like Richard Branson & Virgin) have tried...
Apparently, the US are interested in high speed trains. The French would like to tender for the high speed line from LA to San Francisco or something like that. http://www.railway-technology.com/projects/califor nia/.
The project will cost about $10bn US.
Running a TGV fast on recently installed track (this is the new line going out to the east of France from Paris to Strasbourg, an area of France previously not served by high speed trains.
You can go from Paris to London in Eurostar (also a TGV equivalent) in 2:40 right now, and it will be 2:20 soon. That's about 280 miles, with a tunnel under the English Channel... you can do Paris-Marseille (480 miles) in 3 hours, because there's more track where you can really stay at high speed. The tunnel and the UK side of the tracks means that the Eurostar doesn't spend too much time at 300km/h which is about the top service speed, usually.
If you're going to get Slashdotted, posting a link to a 13MB file is a bit risky, no?
Anyone manage to dl it? I gave up a few minutes ago.
The average return on investment on Search Engine Optimisation (generally: increasing your search position on specific keywords relevant to your business) can be about 10x more than the return on keyword purchasing, which can cost 0.30c - several dollars. Every click costs money.
Once you've optimised to your keywords in "natural search" e.g. *free* results, then your investment keeps paying (you need to maintain positions of course, but this is lower cost, especially if you're in a niche) whereas in paid advertising you have to keep giving money to Google and, in competitive industries, your cost per click will be subject to significant inflation...
Euh... Slashdot is still a news site, where people would come to react to the news at least, not somewhere you would go to relax (under those specific circumstances I mean).
You're right about that. I was in Morocco at the time, and most people went home to watch CNN rather than looking on the net anyway. Traffic to news sites was affected, but like you say, the BBC worked for a lot longer than CNN or MSNBC sites; many leisure sites didn't even look affected at all (aside from a homepage special on relaying news)...
I remember you couldn't get anywhere on news sites during the 9/11 attacks on the WTC; even Google was horrendously slow. Non news sites all started relaying the news so that people could get hold of information.
:-).
Working from home in times past relied on dialling direct to a modem pool at the office. The telephone network could probably handle a fair amount of teleworking like that, particularly if the old school model of connecting, uploading and downloading email & files, and then disconnecting was adopted.
If there were a pandemic, I doubt that people would necessarily be surfing YouTube. It'd be no loss to me to not have that kind of site available anyway
Sounds a lot like scaremongering to me. In the event of a pandemic, net habits would change beyond recognition, so mentioning high bandwidth leisuretime sites seems a bit strange. It's not out of the question that certain services could be restricted though... but you can't analyse current surfing habits and apply them to bandwidth use when teleworking. If I'm working from home I'm not on YouTube, and use very little bandwidth.
I still have the album on vinyl, but my record player is gathering dust in my garage :-(
On the album with "Take It Away" (I think it's Tug of War) there's a song "Get It"... not related to "Come and Get It" which is admittedly on Anthology 3.
Live music died a little though. Less musicians make a living playing in front of the public. My father used to be able to go out 3 nights a week and get paid for live music, he can't now. Yes, the market was for less talented musicians, but today nowhere will pay as much for live music because people are less interested. So the distribution is no longer for "live" but for "recorded" music. Yes there's a following for those who like the charm of the true live sound, but less places have live music than before. Musicians can still make a living, but times change. You can't stop the progress of time, and live music has become more of a niche market for the best live musicians. But the threat to a certain type of musician (the pub band, the pub pianist) has been replaced by other types, and the money gets redistributed differently.