In short, I am just really happy that a few bands are beginning to pave the way to a world without an RIAA.
It's happening all over - about 18 months ago a new music site called Sellaband opened its doors to unsigned Artists around the world. The object is to pre-sell copies of your next album at $10 (US) a piece. Once you hit $50000 you are put into a top studio with top producers and for each $10 Part a Believer purchases they get one copy of the 5000 Limited Edition versions of the album. Regular editions are also made available for the Artist to sell at gigs etc, and now Amazon.co.uk have signed up to sell them, and even pre-order 100 copies by buying 100 Parts once each Artist reaches $30000.
The Believers then get a share of the advertising revenues, and sales of the regular CD, plus anything they can make on selling any spare Limited Edition CDs, the Artist gets a third, Sellaband gets a third and the 5000 Believers share the last third. It's not going to make you a millionaire but its sort of fun!
So far there are over 6000 Artists registered, with 17 having made the $50000, last night Kaitee Page became the latest, and 7 of them now have their albums available from the Sellaband shop where you can purchase the CDs or download the tracks - the first three tracks are free and the others are all on 50c (US) each
But to call that intuitive or in any way obvious, I would have to disagree.
LOL: I guess a loose definition of intuitive might be obvious and the simplicity of the concept is such that, once explained, it seems (to me at least) obvious (as in the head slap and DOH! sort of obvious!), but of course if it has to be explained I guess it can't really be intuitive!
For precisely the reason evolution feels counterintuitive in the first place.
Say what now? I like the concept of "evolution" for exactly the opposite reason - the simplicity of it. A specimen which is better adapted to the environment will more likely survive to pass on its genes. How, in the name of all that is (or isn't!) holy is that counterintuitive? A truely simple concept that provides for the complexity of live on Earth. In truth, it's staggeringly beautiful!
For much the same reason, I'm uncomfortable with talk of "chance" and "coin tossing" when discussing "evolution". Luck has nothing to do with it. At the start of life we weren't tossing a coin to try and make homo sapiens! Whatever was best survived, and it turned out to be us.
You would be much better off, hiring people of various skill levels
I was really lucky to get a job in a fantastic company writing Newsroom systems as my first job out of university. I was amongst some incredibly talented programmers and therefore didn't really rate myself as a "good programmer" at all. Upon leaving the company it turned out I was actually well above average - mostly down to a good CompSci degree giving me the basics and working with a team of very good programmers who were all ready, willing, and able, to pass on their programming skills!
You need a range of skills within a team to allow people to learn. You will always have the top dog who helps everyone else - and you all know who it is at your work, the go-to-guy. People always fear these people leaving - oh what will we do if so-and-so leaves... you don't need to worry because someone else will step up to the plate to carry the torch.
Logica, in the UK, went through a phase of hiring graduates from anything other than CompSci courses - I worked with an English Graduate who Logica had retrained, and he was a top programmer! But programming isn't about knowing the language syntax, it's about how you approach a problem. I sometimes wonder if you actually want lazy programmers - so they write the code well first time so they don't get called out at night to fix things! Write the code as simply as they can, so when they return it's easier to understand what they were doing!
Er... isn't the acceleration of the two bodies towards each other at 10m/s^2 - and in this case most of that acceleration is the small object doing the moving?
That gravity pulls objects toward the center of the earth at 32ft/s^2 is a fact. The theory of gravity explains why that happens.
Er.. not as I understand it. I think you may find that gravity pulls, in this case, the Earth and the other 'object' together at 32ft/s^2. Obviously, with small objects this will tend to look like just the object is moving and the Earth is otherwise unaffected, but still...
You can (essentially) only go supersonic over the oceans
You can only go supersonic over the oceans whilst you are in the atmosphere ... always assuming they don't use some clever tech to reduce/eliminate the sonic boom too.
So, shoot up into (very!) low orbit over the Atlantic, zoom over the US, come down over the Pacific, land in Sydney. Do some shopping, have lunch at that excellent restaurant by the bridge, return home for tea.
"You did 96 mph through this cross-roads - we're not going to pay."
Sure, that's the way to convince people to fit spy-ware into their cars!
If the Black Box was owned by you and no one had authority to examine it without your express permission that might be a different story. You could use it to prove you weren't breaking some traffic rule if you wanted to, or decide not to use the information, at which point the jury could draw their own conclusions.
... and a good reason to avoid their products in the future!
There really is no good reason why you have to always buy a new charger whenever you buy anything else - it's so wasteful to have a box of wall-warts under the bed when one common standard could mean you just use your old charger when you buy new kit, and buy a new charger as required.
I remember the Chinese attempt to force standards onto the phone manufacturers, but I guess it just didn't work!
I was at a music festival recently and I sent a SMS each to my wife and friend. They both got them hours after I sent it. Just having 30000+ people in close proximity seems to completely kill the cell. (I had 7/7 bars and tried to make a call and it just wouldn't)
SMS does not guarentee any delivery time, indeed, SMS uses spare bandwidth - ie the bandwidth not taken up by the 'phone calls - and is therefore, as far as the mobile/cell 'phone operators is concerned, not really costing them anything (after setting up the capability to do it, obviously, which was pretty much a one-time cost).
Except... if the ships are going to be tethered, you may as well hookup a tow rope. It'd be cheaper.
It might well be cheaper, but the strains on a tether during a tow, esp. in high seas, would be huge. If the piggy-back vessel is already electrically powered (gas turbines or whatever), plugging in a slack power cable might actually offer some interesting advantages, eg it could run alongside, or even in front of, the vessel providing the power!
A "beamed" energy supply might be better, but keeping the beam sufficiently still might also be tricky in heavy seas.
I like this idea as a starting point, and as a method of getting the scientology texts out in the open, but I'd be even happier with simply removing the tax-free status of all religious organisations.
Given the current knowledge that all religions are hokum and snake-oil, why the hell should they not have to pay tax? If we can't simply outlaw the brain-washing of the children we should at least tax the miscreants who are doing it!
On a "fly-by-wire" plane like the 777, even moving the throttle levers just sends a signal to a system that eventually gets to the engines. Bottom line is there are lots of lower level avionics systems that could have failed and the pilots would only see that the autothruster was supposed to provide more power and didn't.
Indeed. My guess is that the autopilot is a completely seperate system designed to fly the plane in isolation from the 'flight' computers, and to do this using much the same interface to the 'flight' computers as the meat-Pilots use - ie the cockpit controls (hence why the levers move to request more power).
An interesting question might be "why did the 'plane need more thrust?". I guess as a 'plane comes in to land it raises it's nose, thereby changing the "angle of attack" and thusly it needs more thrust to stay airborne, but wouldn't the change of the angle of attack also increase lift from the wings (presumably already in the landing configuration, flaps, etc)?
Maybe the need for more thrust is normal (IANAP!), but might that indicate something happening earlier?
Maybe somebody uploaded a pirated copy of 'Windows for Gliders'...
Then they, sir, are the heroes, as without said gliding the 777 might well have ended up getting a parking ticket on the perimiter road, then being towed away and we'd have never found out what happened! Do you know how much it would cost to get a 777 out of the pound?
Plus, even being found not guilty after a trial does not mean that you were in fact innocent.
The interesting flip-side to this is that being found guilty doesn't actually mean you are guilty! This is something people sometimes have trouble with, and yet the opposite is accepted.
Two things:-
1) He must have really hated his Mother-in-Law. Sure, she was apparently going to give evidence against him w.r.t. his wife's demise, but knowing he was going to top himself, it was above and beyond the call of duty to off the MiL first!
2) I guess we'll never know if he was guilty of killing his wife now!
Slashdot Mirror
It's happening all over - about 18 months ago a new music site called Sellaband opened its doors to unsigned Artists around the world. The object is to pre-sell copies of your next album at $10 (US) a piece. Once you hit $50000 you are put into a top studio with top producers and for each $10 Part a Believer purchases they get one copy of the 5000 Limited Edition versions of the album. Regular editions are also made available for the Artist to sell at gigs etc, and now Amazon.co.uk have signed up to sell them, and even pre-order 100 copies by buying 100 Parts once each Artist reaches $30000.
The Believers then get a share of the advertising revenues, and sales of the regular CD, plus anything they can make on selling any spare Limited Edition CDs, the Artist gets a third, Sellaband gets a third and the 5000 Believers share the last third. It's not going to make you a millionaire but its sort of fun!
So far there are over 6000 Artists registered, with 17 having made the $50000, last night Kaitee Page became the latest, and 7 of them now have their albums available from the Sellaband shop where you can purchase the CDs or download the tracks - the first three tracks are free and the others are all on 50c (US) each
Come on people ... forget the size check you try to slip your bag into, if YOU CAN'T LIFT IT, IT's TOO DAMN BIG!
Sheez!
Or indeed When are we there
LOL: I guess a loose definition of intuitive might be obvious and the simplicity of the concept is such that, once explained, it seems (to me at least) obvious (as in the head slap and DOH! sort of obvious!), but of course if it has to be explained I guess it can't really be intuitive!
That would be so cool!
Except the women would end up with all the best cars! [ducks]
Say what now? I like the concept of "evolution" for exactly the opposite reason - the simplicity of it. A specimen which is better adapted to the environment will more likely survive to pass on its genes. How, in the name of all that is (or isn't!) holy is that counterintuitive? A truely simple concept that provides for the complexity of live on Earth. In truth, it's staggeringly beautiful!
For much the same reason, I'm uncomfortable with talk of "chance" and "coin tossing" when discussing "evolution". Luck has nothing to do with it. At the start of life we weren't tossing a coin to try and make homo sapiens! Whatever was best survived, and it turned out to be us.
I was really lucky to get a job in a fantastic company writing Newsroom systems as my first job out of university. I was amongst some incredibly talented programmers and therefore didn't really rate myself as a "good programmer" at all. Upon leaving the company it turned out I was actually well above average - mostly down to a good CompSci degree giving me the basics and working with a team of very good programmers who were all ready, willing, and able, to pass on their programming skills!
You need a range of skills within a team to allow people to learn. You will always have the top dog who helps everyone else - and you all know who it is at your work, the go-to-guy. People always fear these people leaving - oh what will we do if so-and-so leaves ... you don't need to worry because someone else will step up to the plate to carry the torch.
Logica, in the UK, went through a phase of hiring graduates from anything other than CompSci courses - I worked with an English Graduate who Logica had retrained, and he was a top programmer! But programming isn't about knowing the language syntax, it's about how you approach a problem. I sometimes wonder if you actually want lazy programmers - so they write the code well first time so they don't get called out at night to fix things! Write the code as simply as they can, so when they return it's easier to understand what they were doing!
Er .. not as I understand it. I think you may find that gravity pulls, in this case, the Earth and the other 'object' together at 32ft/s^2. Obviously, with small objects this will tend to look like just the object is moving and the Earth is otherwise unaffected, but still ...
I think you are making the usual mistake of equating "having money" with "having class".
Case 1: Britney Spears ... well I assume she at least had a lot of money!
*COUGH* Noraid
You can only go supersonic over the oceans whilst you are in the atmosphere
... always assuming they don't use some clever tech to reduce/eliminate the sonic boom too.
So, shoot up into (very!) low orbit over the Atlantic, zoom over the US, come down over the Pacific, land in Sydney. Do some shopping, have lunch at that excellent restaurant by the bridge, return home for tea.
Sure, that's the way to convince people to fit spy-ware into their cars!
If the Black Box was owned by you and no one had authority to examine it without your express permission that might be a different story. You could use it to prove you weren't breaking some traffic rule if you wanted to, or decide not to use the information, at which point the jury could draw their own conclusions.
That might work!
There really is no good reason why you have to always buy a new charger whenever you buy anything else - it's so wasteful to have a box of wall-warts under the bed when one common standard could mean you just use your old charger when you buy new kit, and buy a new charger as required.
I remember the Chinese attempt to force standards onto the phone manufacturers, but I guess it just didn't work!
SMS does not guarentee any delivery time, indeed, SMS uses spare bandwidth - ie the bandwidth not taken up by the 'phone calls - and is therefore, as far as the mobile/cell 'phone operators is concerned, not really costing them anything (after setting up the capability to do it, obviously, which was pretty much a one-time cost).
It might well be cheaper, but the strains on a tether during a tow, esp. in high seas, would be huge. If the piggy-back vessel is already electrically powered (gas turbines or whatever), plugging in a slack power cable might actually offer some interesting advantages, eg it could run alongside, or even in front of, the vessel providing the power!
A "beamed" energy supply might be better, but keeping the beam sufficiently still might also be tricky in heavy seas.
I like this idea as a starting point, and as a method of getting the scientology texts out in the open, but I'd be even happier with simply removing the tax-free status of all religious organisations.
Given the current knowledge that all religions are hokum and snake-oil, why the hell should they not have to pay tax? If we can't simply outlaw the brain-washing of the children we should at least tax the miscreants who are doing it!
Shame that's not Freedom From Religion!
Ever tried saying you were an Atheist? It would appear it's OK to have some/any religion, but having no religion can still get you persecuted.
Oh well! I've heard good things about Firefox, but if anyone can point out a good reason to go elsewhere I might be persuaded to listen?
Indeed. My guess is that the autopilot is a completely seperate system designed to fly the plane in isolation from the 'flight' computers, and to do this using much the same interface to the 'flight' computers as the meat-Pilots use - ie the cockpit controls (hence why the levers move to request more power).
An interesting question might be "why did the 'plane need more thrust?". I guess as a 'plane comes in to land it raises it's nose, thereby changing the "angle of attack" and thusly it needs more thrust to stay airborne, but wouldn't the change of the angle of attack also increase lift from the wings (presumably already in the landing configuration, flaps, etc)?
Maybe the need for more thrust is normal (IANAP!), but might that indicate something happening earlier?
Then they, sir, are the heroes, as without said gliding the 777 might well have ended up getting a parking ticket on the perimiter road, then being towed away and we'd have never found out what happened! Do you know how much it would cost to get a 777 out of the pound?
They simply had to make the airfield! Have you seen the parking restrictions around Heathrow?
Well, not always of course. It is perfectly acceptable to hole someone up in Gitmo for years without trial. But of course, that's different isn't it.
The interesting flip-side to this is that being found guilty doesn't actually mean you are guilty! This is something people sometimes have trouble with, and yet the opposite is accepted.
1) He must have really hated his Mother-in-Law. Sure, she was apparently going to give evidence against him w.r.t. his wife's demise, but knowing he was going to top himself, it was above and beyond the call of duty to off the MiL first!
2) I guess we'll never know if he was guilty of killing his wife now!