John Travolta gets to pull his jets right up to his house in Florida. One is a big 250,000lb, 1964 Boeing 707-138B airliner, and the other is a Gulf Stream. The garden is actually a heliport.
The actor, according to a local newspaper, "can walk out his door, under a canopied walkway and into the cockpit [of his Boeing], open the long mechanized gate [giving on to the runway] and be airborne in minutes."
Yes, that is exactly correct. You have a good eye.
It's nice to see photos from home. It appears the family has kept things pretty much the same since I left. I can't wait to get back. I look forward to celebrating the Gostro-mik'awqgie Festiv'al with all my friends.
"Perhaps they will provide it on the mini cds you rarely see distributed? That would help the 'green' factor, and have a marketing edge of sorts; would even reduce shipping costs, and other manufacturing costs (smaller cover, less plastic for a jewel case, etc)."
I worked for one of the major record retailers, way-back-when. The Tokyo outlet was sure that single cassettes would look cheap in their factory packaging (small, one tape to an SKU), so they repackaged each one to match the elongated (double-length) CD packages that were all the rage. That way, they also fit nicely into the existing racks without having to break out a chain saw. This was the same staff that filed music strictly according to artist/group name: THE Beatles, THE BeachBoys, THE Rolling Stones, THE London Philharmonic - "choto...why 'T' section so much bigger than all rest..?"
You can bet those smallish CDs would be triple-packaged for security and upsized, like a fat Russian bride, all in order to grab the consumer's eyes, while competing with thousands of other garish packages.
That's the issue with retail brick & morter entertainment. If you market a package that is 20 cm long, your competitor will use one that is 25 cm, so the consumer 'feels' as if they are getting more. They are getting more alright, more wasteful packaging.
Cut yourself on one of those see-through blister paks yet? Add the Bandaid and Tylenol packages to the list...
One thing hanging over the 'maybe new, maybe not' idea that didn't factor in twenty years ago, is the 'green' factor.
What is the carbon footprint of three songs on a packaged CD versus three songs purchased over the internet? And to bring it into even sharper focus, the CD packaged songs will end up on a player just like the downloads.
"...your post has me interested in buying some "Astronomical binoculars."
I took it as any pair that costs more than the new house...you know: 'budget', 'prosumer' and 'Price?? If you have to ask, you can't afford it! A s t r o nomi-cal!'
I'll go out on a palm frond and bet that the Army has some pretty good hi-tech field binocs that may not have made it into the Christmas '07 Eddie Bauer catalog just yet...
"Gosh, Dad...it looks like we're the first family in the neighborhood to have a TV antenna on our roof!"
"Right, Alan - this is the newest thing. Now we can pull in another 4 channels, and one of them is supposed to be showing at least an hour of VibraColor every Friday!"
...........later, after the family has had their dinner, and Alan's mother finishes washing the dishes, little Alan sits down in front of the Frank family's new Westinghouse 14" ChromaColor television while his father finishes connecting the also new roof aerial to the back of the glowing set.
"While our neighbors may find it easy to put up with ghosting, rolling images and static..." Mr. Frank said to Alan, "...the Franks do not. One day, Son, everyone will enjoy color TV the way it was meant to be. Why, I bet they'll have at least twenty channels fifty years from now. Imagine!"
"And since you're sitting right in front of it, flip the channel to six, Alan...careful - clockwise! Boxing starts in ten minutes! Marge - is that cake ready, yet? All this work & I'm still hungry!."
"Pardon Moi, but does your secret satellite fire lasers?"
"No, it certainly does not."
"Oh...good. Then I'll just be orbiting this small camera platform over here next to it and...."ZZZzzzZZzzZzzzzzzZZZZZZZzzaaaaaaappppppppppppPPPPPPPP!!!!!!
"I thought you said your secret satellite doesn't fire lasers!!??"
For starters - they have lost their 'Alligence to the Old Ways' - The ways that come from the hearts of Knights tried and true, borne alongside the heated steel of the hand-forged broadsword. They have lost their honor, their self-respect and sight of their epic promises to protect the weak, avenge the wronged, defend their Lord's castle and bring to justice any and all who would put themselves above the good of the just souls 'er the land.
But the most stunning loss of all is that which no living man nor womanchild dare contemplate, having become that which lies in darkened memory alone - the one thing no living entity dare barter, trade, nor sell, lest he look upon others with hollow eyes.
...for they have lost their very souls, never to be rekindled, recaptured nor returned to them whole.
This was all spelled out in one of Ballmer's, eh, 'Modern Marketing for Dummies' memos - you got your copy, right?
"...good to know they are still with us." pfft....
We've had this conversation before (apparently to no avail). Anthropomorphizing machines, whether you choose to name the new document shredder in the next room or pine over a planetary research vehicle that is taking a licking and yet still kicking, only serves to marginalize the human element that put them where they are.
You want a machine for a friend, fine...R2D2 is available, all for the price of a used DVD. Knock yourself out...but please stop knitting red/white/blue sweaters for the mailbox, 'cause the women and men that did the real work need love too:)
"How does one reasonably quantify admin productivity?""
If no one in the building but HR and your line report need to know your name, you're doing your job...
Other than that, it would be like a trash collector counting how many cans he emptied during the day or a wildfire firefighter how many burning bushes he chopped. If there weren't any fires or trash these people wouldn't be needed, would they?
Update (August 24th): We're starting to see bloggers weigh in, including the inimitable Lubos Motl and Chris Lee at Ars Technica, though I'm surprised there's not more. Here we finally get some observations that probe string theory, if only tentatively, and people who have been loudly complaining about the lack of such observations have gone silent.
Wow - if that's not a dare to be/.'ed, I don't know what is:)
externality
noun ( pl. -ties)
1. 'Economics'...a side effect or consequence of an industrial or commercial activity that affects other parties without this being reflected in the cost of the goods or services involved, such as the pollination of surrounding crops by bees kept for honey.
Side-effect...sure. 'Affecting other parties while not reflected in the service'...uuummm - hold on. If you pay me to geld your phone, as a side-effect, Apple (other parties, not the owner) no longer has to honor the warranty. As for that not being reflected in the cost of the service - seems to be directly reflected, since the owner paid for you to take Apple off the warranty hook as part of the package - like it, want it, need it or not.
You call going on national TV with all the details and a big shit-eating grin plastered on his iFace, smart? "Hey, Mom!! Look at me!! I just pissed off two major north american companies and screwed the warranty on that new phone you bought me!!!"
There were three others in on this, according to the story so far. Those are the smart ones, but only as long as they keep quiet.
The guy's blog is not responding - he's got to know this means nothing but heartache for him going forward. What was it...like four guys and three of them conned the kid into going public. Very public...?
When someone considers the impact, end-to-end, from carving copper oreout of the ground to throwing the out-of-date server chassis into a furnace, then I'll pay attention...maybe.
"Would that argument still hold if you wanted to advertise proxies to people in China and Iran?"
There is this one small problem that might be a factor, pretty much right from the start. The 'net police in China can read, just like your target population.
You might as well translate it into Chinese and gift wrap the info, for all the good this scheme would do.
Also, the Chinese using the internet are doing pretty well against the authorities - I'd not lose any sleep over them being able to pull their own weight when it comes to communications...thanks just the same.
Slashdot Mirror
Ok, I'm gonna dodge that one...
Travolta's son Jett's bedroom is modeled on the inside of a DC8, which as we all know is modeled on the space planes that...
...h e l l o
Travolta, like many top level actors, IS a company - JTP Films.
John Travolta gets to pull his jets right up to his house in Florida. One is a big 250,000lb, 1964 Boeing 707-138B airliner, and the other is a Gulf Stream. The garden is actually a heliport.
The actor, according to a local newspaper, "can walk out his door, under a canopied walkway and into the cockpit [of his Boeing], open the long mechanized gate [giving on to the runway] and be airborne in minutes."
"...the other as bright as snow."
Yes, that is exactly correct. You have a good eye.
It's nice to see photos from home. It appears the family has kept things pretty much the same since I left. I can't wait to get back. I look forward to celebrating the Gostro-mik'awqgie Festiv'al with all my friends.
I miss my home...
"Perhaps they will provide it on the mini cds you rarely see distributed? That would help the 'green' factor, and have a marketing edge of sorts; would even reduce shipping costs, and other manufacturing costs (smaller cover, less plastic for a jewel case, etc)."
I worked for one of the major record retailers, way-back-when. The Tokyo outlet was sure that single cassettes would look cheap in their factory packaging (small, one tape to an SKU), so they repackaged each one to match the elongated (double-length) CD packages that were all the rage. That way, they also fit nicely into the existing racks without having to break out a chain saw. This was the same staff that filed music strictly according to artist/group name: THE Beatles, THE BeachBoys, THE Rolling Stones, THE London Philharmonic - "choto...why 'T' section so much bigger than all rest..?"
You can bet those smallish CDs would be triple-packaged for security and upsized, like a fat Russian bride, all in order to grab the consumer's eyes, while competing with thousands of other garish packages.
That's the issue with retail brick & morter entertainment. If you market a package that is 20 cm long, your competitor will use one that is 25 cm, so the consumer 'feels' as if they are getting more. They are getting more alright, more wasteful packaging.
Cut yourself on one of those see-through blister paks yet? Add the Bandaid and Tylenol packages to the list...
One thing hanging over the 'maybe new, maybe not' idea that didn't factor in twenty years ago, is the 'green' factor.
What is the carbon footprint of three songs on a packaged CD versus three songs purchased over the internet? And to bring it into even sharper focus, the CD packaged songs will end up on a player just like the downloads.
Game over, man...
"...your post has me interested in buying some "Astronomical binoculars."
I took it as any pair that costs more than the new house...you know: 'budget', 'prosumer' and 'Price?? If you have to ask, you can't afford it! A s t r o nomi-cal!'
I'll go out on a palm frond and bet that the Army has some pretty good hi-tech field binocs that may not have made it into the Christmas '07 Eddie Bauer catalog just yet...
"Gosh, Dad...it looks like we're the first family in the neighborhood to have a TV antenna on our roof!"
...........later, after the family has had their dinner, and Alan's mother finishes washing the dishes, little Alan sits down in front of the Frank family's new Westinghouse 14" ChromaColor television while his father finishes connecting the also new roof aerial to the back of the glowing set.
"Right, Alan - this is the newest thing. Now we can pull in another 4 channels, and one of them is supposed to be showing at least an hour of VibraColor every Friday!"
"While our neighbors may find it easy to put up with ghosting, rolling images and static..." Mr. Frank said to Alan, "...the Franks do not. One day, Son, everyone will enjoy color TV the way it was meant to be. Why, I bet they'll have at least twenty channels fifty years from now. Imagine!"
"And since you're sitting right in front of it, flip the channel to six, Alan...careful - clockwise! Boxing starts in ten minutes! Marge - is that cake ready, yet? All this work & I'm still hungry!."
"Pardon Moi, but does your secret satellite fire lasers?"
"No, it certainly does not."
"Oh...good. Then I'll just be orbiting this small camera platform over here next to it and...."ZZZzzzZZzzZzzzzzzZZZZZZZzzaaaaaaappppppppppppPPPPPPPP!!!!!!
"I thought you said your secret satellite doesn't fire lasers!!??"
"That's not my secret satellite..."
"...the centerpiece of the world's first, purpose-built, commercial spaceport"
I take it whomever spit out that little piece of wishful marketing spin never visited the 'Nazca Lines' on the Plains de' Peru, eh, Bunky?
"what other things have they not done?"
...for they have lost their very souls, never to be rekindled, recaptured nor returned to them whole.
For starters - they have lost their 'Alligence to the Old Ways' - The ways that come from the hearts of Knights tried and true, borne alongside the heated steel of the hand-forged broadsword. They have lost their honor, their self-respect and sight of their epic promises to protect the weak, avenge the wronged, defend their Lord's castle and bring to justice any and all who would put themselves above the good of the just souls 'er the land.
But the most stunning loss of all is that which no living man nor womanchild dare contemplate, having become that which lies in darkened memory alone - the one thing no living entity dare barter, trade, nor sell, lest he look upon others with hollow eyes.
This was all spelled out in one of Ballmer's, eh, 'Modern Marketing for Dummies' memos - you got your copy, right?
"A final positive use was the ability to do 3d and 4d moving graphs."
So if I can explain the 'arrow of time' to 5th graders, so that they can go home and explain it to their filipana nannies...I'm in?
"...so these are also useful for taking attendence in large classes."
:)
"Ow can you 'aveny pudd'n, if you don' eat your MEAT??"
May I also suggest attendance in another semester of basic English, if you really want that physics degree to mean anything
"...good to know they are still with us." pfft....
:)
We've had this conversation before (apparently to no avail). Anthropomorphizing machines, whether you choose to name the new document shredder in the next room or pine over a planetary research vehicle that is taking a licking and yet still kicking, only serves to marginalize the human element that put them where they are.
You want a machine for a friend, fine...R2D2 is available, all for the price of a used DVD. Knock yourself out...but please stop knitting red/white/blue sweaters for the mailbox, 'cause the women and men that did the real work need love too
kdawson quotes Steven Weintraub quoting Susan Sarandon talking about...oh, never mind.
"How does one reasonably quantify admin productivity?""
If no one in the building but HR and your line report need to know your name, you're doing your job...
Other than that, it would be like a trash collector counting how many cans he emptied during the day or a wildfire firefighter how many burning bushes he chopped. If there weren't any fires or trash these people wouldn't be needed, would they?
You can't quantify SA productivity.
"is there ever a case for letting national security issues dictate the limits of an open source project?"
Yes, and I could tell you, but then I'd have to hunt you down and kill you, so....no.
From the page...
/.'ed, I don't know what is :)
Update (August 24th): We're starting to see bloggers weigh in, including the inimitable Lubos Motl and Chris Lee at Ars Technica, though I'm surprised there's not more. Here we finally get some observations that probe string theory, if only tentatively, and people who have been loudly complaining about the lack of such observations have gone silent.
Wow - if that's not a dare to be
...does it mean anything that his blog is already offline...?
"the only negative externality will be"
...a side effect or consequence of an industrial or commercial activity that affects other parties without this being reflected in the cost of the goods or services involved, such as the pollination of surrounding crops by bees kept for honey.
externality
noun ( pl. -ties)
1. 'Economics'
Side-effect...sure. 'Affecting other parties while not reflected in the service'...uuummm - hold on. If you pay me to geld your phone, as a side-effect, Apple (other parties, not the owner) no longer has to honor the warranty. As for that not being reflected in the cost of the service - seems to be directly reflected, since the owner paid for you to take Apple off the warranty hook as part of the package - like it, want it, need it or not.
"We need more smart people like him around."
Smart?
You call going on national TV with all the details and a big shit-eating grin plastered on his iFace, smart? "Hey, Mom!! Look at me!! I just pissed off two major north american companies and screwed the warranty on that new phone you bought me!!!"
There were three others in on this, according to the story so far. Those are the smart ones, but only as long as they keep quiet.
The guy's blog is not responding - he's got to know this means nothing but heartache for him going forward. What was it...like four guys and three of them conned the kid into going public. Very public...?
When someone considers the impact, end-to-end, from carving copper oreout of the ground to throwing the out-of-date server chassis into a furnace, then I'll pay attention...maybe.
Until then, this is just marketing 101...
"Would that argument still hold if you wanted to advertise proxies to people in China and Iran?"
There is this one small problem that might be a factor, pretty much right from the start. The 'net police in China can read, just like your target population.
You might as well translate it into Chinese and gift wrap the info, for all the good this scheme would do.
Also, the Chinese using the internet are doing pretty well against the authorities - I'd not lose any sleep over them being able to pull their own weight when it comes to communications...thanks just the same.