You would prefer that all books be virtual, which will mean they will likely be served up by a handful of vendors in the proverbial "cloud".
I would? Tell me more about...me.
I own several hundred ebooks. None of them are stored in the "cloud". Either on my desktop, my wife's desktop, or my laptop. And copied to my reader as needed....
As to why I own several hundred ebooks...well, I also own several thousand paper books. And don't really have storage space for more. It's a generous description to say I have the space for the ones I have already....
Let the rest of the worlds population 'naturally' adjust to the local carrying capacity of those places.
Hmm, so, what's the "carrying capacity" of New York City? Or Los Angeles? Hell, it's not like they grow enough food in either of those places to feed the Police Department, much less the rest of the people!
Or was this just your way of saying, "let them brown people starve, damnit! And pass the mashed potatoes"?
Note that if we were to drop back to the "natural carrying capacity" of the land, we'd have to drop back to the "natural" number of humans. Say, a few tens of thousands living in caves.
Oddly enough, I'm willing to bet that everyone who wants to "drop back to the natural carrying capacity of the land" assumes that they'll be part of the 0.001% who survives the famines/plagues/wars that'll be required to make sure Those Others do the dying.
eBooks will change the way we store books, but tiny little books won't do much of anything, if pocket Bibles/Korans/Wildlife Guides/etc haven't already.
Alas, as long as people cater to quaint historical customs like making books out of paper, not much will change in the big picture....
The original copyright terms where what, 14 years plus 14 year extension?
Yes. Note, by the by, that the extension was only possible if the AUTHOR was alive to extend it. Not the owner of the Copyright, but the author of the copyrighted work.
at least in California, where most of the people and cars and roads are
Umm, no. CA doesn't have "most of the people", it has about 12% or so. Nor does it have "most of the cars", it has about 10% there. And maybe 10% of the roads....
Note that roads numbers are from back when Obama was President. It's possible, I suppose, that CA has quintupled the amount of roadways in the last eight years, though I doubt it seriously....
Then why is life expectancy in the US going down compared to Europe?
Hmm, according to the results of a quickie Google, it looks like alcohol abuse deaths are on the rise, ditto drug (prescription and otherwise) abuse deaths. And suicide seems to be on the rise as well....
So, more people are dying young, bringing the average down....
No screen time for children is basically the same as "no pencil and paper time" 100 years ago.
Or "no reading time" back then.
Eliminating computers from a child's education is essentially the same as requiring a child to learn to read and write with a stone tablet and a chisel....
By all means teach your kids enough critical thought to understand that just because it's on the internet doesn't make it true (just as you were (presumably) taught that just because it's printed in a book doesn't make it true).
But don't force them to learn to use 19th century tools just because they might be exposed to a falsehood on 21st Century tools. Because, ultimately, they'll be exposed to falsehoods with the 19th Century tools also (note, by the by, that the Wizard of Oz was NOT a travelog, it was fiction (AKA false))....
If "the People" collectively own everything, then noone owns anything.
On the other hand, I've got stock in a couple dozen companies (not large amounts, mind you, but some), as do most of us (what? you thought your 401K and/or IRA just stuck the money into someone's mattress?). So, yeah, I own capital. A small piece of it, but some....
Chernobyl, Three Mile Island, and even Fukushima, were yesterday's nuclear power.
Chernobyl: a deliberate attempt by a government to SIMULATE a meltdown. Turns out the "simulation" was a bit too good. Fewer than 200 direct casualties, mostly the firefighters dealing with the fire caused by the "simulation". Worst nuclear accident in history. Caused approximately 1/30th of the deaths that routine traffic fatalities caused during the same two days....
Fukushima: massive tsunami. First nuclear-related casualty happened a few months ago, as I recall seeing in the news. Total casualties approximately 1/6000000th of the deaths caused by routine traffic accidents from tsunami to first casualty.
Three Mile Island. No casualties. No release of radioactivity.
There is a little known accident involving a test reactor that killed three people in the USA back in the day. The reactor fit into a 55 gallon drum, and one of the three guys doing the routine maintenance didn't follow procedures, and killed himself and two other guys trying to do the routine maintenance.
So, the four (known - there is evidence that the USSR may have had another accident back in the 50's, but it's purely circumstantial, since the USSR wasn't big on admitting failures it could hide back then) worst nuclear accidents in history collectively produced less than 10% of the casualties that routine traffic accidents worldwide will cause TODAY! In fact, fewer traffic fatalities than will happen in the USA today, quite likely.
Somehow, I cannot see nuclear power as all that dangerous, even if you're talking reactors designed 50+ years ago....
but we're not going to build another ISS or JWST or GPS system because of it.
On the gripping hand, SpaceX having its own space station isn't as far-fetched as all that, and it would be useful for preparations for Lunar or Mars voyages.
Along with a station in Lunar orbit, of course. And maybe at L4 and/or L5.
In a pilot study with a small sample size, researchers looked for microplastics in stool samples of eight people from Finland, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Poland, Russia, the United Kingdom and Austria. To their surprise, every single sample tested positive for the presence of a variety of microplastics (Warning: source may be paywalled; alternative source). In a pilot study with a small sample size, researchers looked for microplastics in stool samples of eight people from Finland, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Poland, Russia, the United Kingdom and Austria. To their surprise, every single sample tested positive for the presence of a variety of microplastics.
Note that there are four sentences in the above quote. The first and third are identical, as are the second and fourth.
Which suggests that either the editors are idiots, or that they don't bother to read what they type....
it seems like most USian folks displaced by natural disaster seem to sit around and wait for someone to deliver salvation in frustration-free packaging.
More a matter of "those types are the ones who make the news."
"At any given time, it holds 12 quadrillion gallons -- the number 12 with 19 zeros after it -- a very, very, big number,"
Umm, a quadrillion has 15 zeroes, not 19.
If Zenia Tata doesn't even know that all those *illion numbers are multiples of three zeroes, should she really be "chief impact officer" of the x-Prizes?
Yeah! That'll solve the problem of Russian misinformation trying to sway the voters, it sure will! I don't know how, but if WillAffleckUW says it will, then it must be true.
So, what you're saying is that Russian misinformation is bad. Really bad. Prison time bad.
But American misinformation is perfectly fine?
Oddly enough, the First Amendment (you remember that one - Freedom of Speech, the Press, that sort of thing?) says absolutely nothing about "for American Citizens Only".
Nor does it mention that the only speech that was protected was The Truth! Note that if it did, then you'd have whomever won any particular election punishing the other fellows (Dems, Reps, whichever) for "not speaking The Truth" (note the caps on The Truth) to the voters.
On the plus side, The Truth would change everytime the Presidency changed, and possibly every time the House and/or Senate changed. Wouldn't it be FUN to live in a country where The Truth changes in arbitrary ways every other year or so?
On a lot of things. One of those things is a side-effect of the rate of change of computer systems.
Sure, my Tandy 2000 from 30 (or so) years back should be repairable. But that would require that the maker continue making parts for 30 or so years. Which would make sense if nothing much had changed in 30 or so years.
Alas, a smartphone today has more computing power than my Tandy 2000 did. Making parts for the Tandy 2000 today makes about as much sense as making parts for a stagecoach does.
As is, for the most part, spare parts are made as long as it's profitable to do so. And no, the fact that seventeen people in Maryland want to be able to repair their Tandy 2000's doesn't mean that it's worth the bother of maintaining archaic machine tools, training operators for same, and distributing parts to stores for display on strictly limited shelf-space....
Of course, there are other considerations sometimes. For instance, pollution control laws exist. Allowing the owner of a vehicle to bypass the pollution controls on his vehicle (or just to muck them up by accident) is generally considered a bad thing.
And on and on.
Short form: yes, you should be able to repair your stuff. Except when you shouldn't....
The problem is a lack of apex predators. The deer population has expanded past a sustainable level.
No, there are plenty of apex predators. Humans ARE apex predators. Alas, there are also too many laws limiting the amount of predation we're allowed to do. Ban on hunting in the area? Check. Too many deer eating whatever they like? Check....
Slashdot Mirror
Not terribly impressive. 7.6 billion people, 74.7 million square miles of land. Over 100 people per square mile....
Which translates, more or less, as average distance between humans is only 590 feet (180 meters) over the entire land area of the planet....
I would? Tell me more about...me.
I own several hundred ebooks. None of them are stored in the "cloud". Either on my desktop, my wife's desktop, or my laptop. And copied to my reader as needed....
As to why I own several hundred ebooks...well, I also own several thousand paper books. And don't really have storage space for more. It's a generous description to say I have the space for the ones I have already....
Hmm, so, what's the "carrying capacity" of New York City? Or Los Angeles? Hell, it's not like they grow enough food in either of those places to feed the Police Department, much less the rest of the people!
Or was this just your way of saying, "let them brown people starve, damnit! And pass the mashed potatoes"?
Note that if we were to drop back to the "natural carrying capacity" of the land, we'd have to drop back to the "natural" number of humans. Say, a few tens of thousands living in caves.
Oddly enough, I'm willing to bet that everyone who wants to "drop back to the natural carrying capacity of the land" assumes that they'll be part of the 0.001% who survives the famines/plagues/wars that'll be required to make sure Those Others do the dying.
eBooks will change the way we store books, but tiny little books won't do much of anything, if pocket Bibles/Korans/Wildlife Guides/etc haven't already.
Alas, as long as people cater to quaint historical customs like making books out of paper, not much will change in the big picture....
Hmm, I'd be willing to bet we saw a quicker, more irreversible mass extinction, oh, 65 megayears ago, when that big rock fell out of the sky....
Yes. Note, by the by, that the extension was only possible if the AUTHOR was alive to extend it. Not the owner of the Copyright, but the author of the copyrighted work.
Umm, no. CA doesn't have "most of the people", it has about 12% or so. Nor does it have "most of the cars", it has about 10% there. And maybe 10% of the roads....
Note that roads numbers are from back when Obama was President. It's possible, I suppose, that CA has quintupled the amount of roadways in the last eight years, though I doubt it seriously....
Now that, sir, was funny....
Hmm, according to the results of a quickie Google, it looks like alcohol abuse deaths are on the rise, ditto drug (prescription and otherwise) abuse deaths. And suicide seems to be on the rise as well....
So, more people are dying young, bringing the average down....
No screen time for children is basically the same as "no pencil and paper time" 100 years ago.
Or "no reading time" back then.
Eliminating computers from a child's education is essentially the same as requiring a child to learn to read and write with a stone tablet and a chisel....
By all means teach your kids enough critical thought to understand that just because it's on the internet doesn't make it true (just as you were (presumably) taught that just because it's printed in a book doesn't make it true).
But don't force them to learn to use 19th century tools just because they might be exposed to a falsehood on 21st Century tools. Because, ultimately, they'll be exposed to falsehoods with the 19th Century tools also (note, by the by, that the Wizard of Oz was NOT a travelog, it was fiction (AKA false))....
"would've been". It's a contraction of "would have been".
It would've been nice if (supposedly) bright, (supposedly) well educated people could spell....
Oh, please! Everyone knows the Martian cannons have a GREEN flash, not a white one....
If "the People" collectively own everything, then noone owns anything.
On the other hand, I've got stock in a couple dozen companies (not large amounts, mind you, but some), as do most of us (what? you thought your 401K and/or IRA just stuck the money into someone's mattress?). So, yeah, I own capital. A small piece of it, but some....
Ahh, but it screwed you up to the point that you can't spell "straight"....;-p
Chernobyl: a deliberate attempt by a government to SIMULATE a meltdown. Turns out the "simulation" was a bit too good. Fewer than 200 direct casualties, mostly the firefighters dealing with the fire caused by the "simulation". Worst nuclear accident in history. Caused approximately 1/30th of the deaths that routine traffic fatalities caused during the same two days....
Fukushima: massive tsunami. First nuclear-related casualty happened a few months ago, as I recall seeing in the news. Total casualties approximately 1/6000000th of the deaths caused by routine traffic accidents from tsunami to first casualty.
Three Mile Island. No casualties. No release of radioactivity.
There is a little known accident involving a test reactor that killed three people in the USA back in the day. The reactor fit into a 55 gallon drum, and one of the three guys doing the routine maintenance didn't follow procedures, and killed himself and two other guys trying to do the routine maintenance.
So, the four (known - there is evidence that the USSR may have had another accident back in the 50's, but it's purely circumstantial, since the USSR wasn't big on admitting failures it could hide back then) worst nuclear accidents in history collectively produced less than 10% of the casualties that routine traffic accidents worldwide will cause TODAY! In fact, fewer traffic fatalities than will happen in the USA today, quite likely.
Somehow, I cannot see nuclear power as all that dangerous, even if you're talking reactors designed 50+ years ago....
On the gripping hand, SpaceX having its own space station isn't as far-fetched as all that, and it would be useful for preparations for Lunar or Mars voyages.
Along with a station in Lunar orbit, of course. And maybe at L4 and/or L5.
Note that there are four sentences in the above quote. The first and third are identical, as are the second and fourth.
Which suggests that either the editors are idiots, or that they don't bother to read what they type....
Bad joke! Bad! No cookies for you....
Seriously, didn't get it right away, but when I realized what you'd said, was delighted!
Oh? I never noticed that "illion" in a googol. So it's properly a googolillion, but is shortened to googol for the masses?
More a matter of "those types are the ones who make the news."
Swapping coal for nuclear tackles BOTH AT THE SAME TIME and gives you baseload power to boot....
Umm, a quadrillion has 15 zeroes, not 19.
If Zenia Tata doesn't even know that all those *illion numbers are multiples of three zeroes, should she really be "chief impact officer" of the x-Prizes?
So, what you're saying is that Russian misinformation is bad. Really bad. Prison time bad.
But American misinformation is perfectly fine?
Oddly enough, the First Amendment (you remember that one - Freedom of Speech, the Press, that sort of thing?) says absolutely nothing about "for American Citizens Only".
Nor does it mention that the only speech that was protected was The Truth! Note that if it did, then you'd have whomever won any particular election punishing the other fellows (Dems, Reps, whichever) for "not speaking The Truth" (note the caps on The Truth) to the voters.
On the plus side, The Truth would change everytime the Presidency changed, and possibly every time the House and/or Senate changed. Wouldn't it be FUN to live in a country where The Truth changes in arbitrary ways every other year or so?
On a lot of things. One of those things is a side-effect of the rate of change of computer systems.
Sure, my Tandy 2000 from 30 (or so) years back should be repairable. But that would require that the maker continue making parts for 30 or so years. Which would make sense if nothing much had changed in 30 or so years.
Alas, a smartphone today has more computing power than my Tandy 2000 did. Making parts for the Tandy 2000 today makes about as much sense as making parts for a stagecoach does.
As is, for the most part, spare parts are made as long as it's profitable to do so. And no, the fact that seventeen people in Maryland want to be able to repair their Tandy 2000's doesn't mean that it's worth the bother of maintaining archaic machine tools, training operators for same, and distributing parts to stores for display on strictly limited shelf-space....
Of course, there are other considerations sometimes. For instance, pollution control laws exist. Allowing the owner of a vehicle to bypass the pollution controls on his vehicle (or just to muck them up by accident) is generally considered a bad thing.
And on and on.
Short form: yes, you should be able to repair your stuff. Except when you shouldn't....
No, there are plenty of apex predators. Humans ARE apex predators. Alas, there are also too many laws limiting the amount of predation we're allowed to do. Ban on hunting in the area? Check. Too many deer eating whatever they like? Check....