...food co-op. The usual arrangement is working members at x-hours per month labor (stock, sweep floors, unload trucks-whatever) get their stuff as near to wholesale as possible.
..maybe it is because India all by itself is a significant chunk of the entire world population? That they are more or less bypassing an entire generation of old technology and going into wireless everything rather than trying to duplicate a wired infrastructure that would cost quad zillions in today's money? That news and interesting stuff comes from there? That a lot of US and other western nation corporations are developing a presence there? Maybe we shouldn't ignore that? Maybe a lot of Slashdotters are there because of Indias push into high tech, and others are interested?
tzero has an attachable "range extender" for their pure electric sportscar, precisely for long trips. It turns an electric into a hybrid when needed, so that during the commuting week, you can be pure electric, weekends or vacation time, bolt this thing on and go driving like normal. Here is an url for the unit.
You could take the same idea and build a bolt on unit yourself. Being in alaska I am sure there are any number of generator outfits you have access to. As to the electric ride, kits are out there on the web to convert normal cars or pickups. So, build a kit, get a trailer, slam a small diesel genny in the trailer, make a nice plug...load up the rest of your gear.. go for a long drive..seems doable...
So, there's one answer from a near-zealot. snort. Been reported here in several other electric vehicle discussions. Anyway, it might not be perfect, but nothing else is either. It's a cinch that the days of cheap fuel are over,(cheap in cost to the wallet, I once paid 12 cents a gallon when I was a teenager, double HA!, cheap in cost to the environment and people's health, etc) barring some tremendous breakthrough and the hundred buck backyard Mr. Fusion.
well, I understand their reasoning, just don't agree with it. They make more money short term by short changing on support or lowballing on components to cheap crap. Long term is a different matter entirely, people could easily get soured on them and go shopping around on their next machine, leading to "slumping sales" and "the board" and "investors" not understanding why this is so. Tell ya what, make "the board" jump through the same hoops and not get preferential treatment when THEY have an issue, things might change. It's a lot like hollywood multimillionaires in the MAFIAA not "getting it" why people thinking 20 bucks for a plastic disk is a ripoff-no realistic frame of reference on what 20 dollars is to joe sixpack...Here's a real world example, detroit in the 70's, lost a ton of market share by making throw away break easily vehicles. Just didn't "get it" that people were starting to get tired of paying for grade C quality and rank mileage.(I used to be in the UAW there and can attest to this disconnect, both management and rank and file workers had it in spades then, pure cognitive dissonance) One or the other customers might put up with,if the price stayed cheap,but BOTH combined with nutso pricing hurt detroit to this day. But back then, according to about every other human I discussed this with, I was "wrong". Sure would be fun to go track down some of them arrogant dudes and have the same discussion today! hahahaha!
Personally, I think for non techies, they are much better off to go to the closest reasonable whitebox shop and get a new box there(even if it is 50$ (whatever)more than a name brand like Dell), then they know exactly where tech support will be. And frequently the whitebox guys wil help them setup a scosh better functionality and security at the same time and not include a ton of spyware at first boot...That's what I tell folks when they ask for a recommendation, if they aren't comfortable assembling their own machine from components. Do a local business-nerd a favor, keep the money local, solve your probs local, everyone stays loyal to each other = much better situation all around, generally speaking.
It's not racist to want to be able to actually understand the dialect being spoken. Big companies should get a clue and realise that the US is so large that regional accents evolved, and automatically route incoming calls based on geography/area code to a *regional* call center staffed by regional dialect speaking persons. This is just normal common sense.
Customers call up when they already have a problem that needs to be fixed, so they are not amused immediately, then, right off the bat this is what happens :
1)the customer gets someone named "Mike" who really isn't named Mike, so that annoys the customer because they know they have just been *lied to*(this is supposed to instill confidence and respect?)by the company, and...
2) there IS a language barrier as the conversation goes on, so trying to diffuse an annoyed customer with a problem and analyse this problem one might think that clear and easy to understand-for both parties-speech would be the proper move. It should be a priority, not a cost cutting measure.
Short term it might not be the cheapest, longer term it is the way to happier customers, those folks you want repeat business from. Now if "Mike" can pull off changing dialects easily as he transits between a host of customers-more power to him, it's hard enough being a native born USian to do this and carry on a satisfactory two way conversation sometimes.
No one in the US wants the outside the border folks to not have jobs, that isn't the issue at all, the issue is they are starting to get fried that domestic jobs that still need to be done (non buggywhip jobs, even if low balled in the economy) are shipped away, then when you need to access this service it is far from a satisfactory experience for a lot of people.
These are legitimate problems, that acctually could be fixed, but that would impact the "bottom line" of some already rich people and some middleman wealth skimmers.
yes, that's it, which should make small shops think about making a "me,too!" version rather than just working with an existing one. If they can't afford it, maybe reconsider the whole project or look to additional startup funding before proceeding.
Is this a problem with all lithium ion batteries, or just bad batches with even worse quality control? Is the design itself just prone to failure? I really don't know, just lithium ions are also being touted as the batteries to go to in plug-in hybrids, so this might set back that tech if the design itself is suspect.
Really? What government law enforcement agency is auditing closed source companies' code looking for GPL violations? I'd bet a lot more than a nickle that there is quite a bit of purloined code floating around inside closed source commercial software.....
And how come despite generations-not just decades but now generations of the music industry engaging in illegal activity like payola that none of them have just been shut down, perhaps under the RICO act? Allofsoftware.com might fly over there, over here they would use SWAT teams and machine guns and teargas, then sic the lawyers on them.
and I am only half joking there....
In the US this situation is easy to quantify, those with the most cash in the largest sacks get "law engforcement" action and favorable legislation. Everyone else gets taxed to pay for that, sort of a double-screw-U.
The system is totally corrupt, IMO, it's not even fixable at this point, not with the same old Ds and Rs "in charge" it isn't.
It's a prelude and a guidance primarily for government data centers. There, they can mandate it to happen (eventually anyway), as servers get replaced or as new ones go online. They are hoping that the idea carries over to the private sector. This is similar how a lot of government fleet vehicles are now going to flex fuel engines. Government is somewhat different from the private sector, they don't have to show a profit, so there's even less incentive to be energy efficient. This puts them all on notice to at least start to think about it seriously.
But ya, it's "feel good" legislation, that's true as well.
Make it a games centered (included and prominent on the cover print)linux distro (with surfing and chat tools, etc) instead and it will get used at least once and not thrown out.
Speaking of which, on making CDs/DVDs, anyone get lightscribe to work under linux? I'm looking to get a new drive and was wondering about this, the tech looks interesting.
What do the EU nations have that might be akin to eminent domain seizures in the US? Here, unfortnately IMO, the supremes have ruled that property can be taken (by government) even for simple economic gain of third parties, such as transferring your land for a new golf course because it might bump up the local proerty taxes, etc. Seems like copyrights could fall under that, because they have made provisions for patent takings in the past. Perhaps they could just take the source themselves and open it, I believe the source code has already been provided to various governments...
note: I am not a huge MS fan, far from it, but I think they are treading on thin ice here and could lose out significantly if they keep waffling.
..who's doing the cut? If you are watching-random here- say a move on ABC and it is "edited for television", is ABC doing the cut, or does the movie producer do the cut? And again, if you own the copy, and they admit in public in their ads you can "own it today on DVD!", you can't delete scenes if you want to? Or you hire a service that does it for you? How about a translation, if they won't provide one in *your* language?
Gray area at best, I am not seeing a clear black/white here yet, but I usually fall on the side of owner's rights, in this case, the owners of the purchased legitimate disks. No one in this situation is taking anything from the original copyright holder, neither money nor credit, and the only copies involved in any of these transactions are legitimately purchased ones. There has been zero copyright infringement that I can see. It's not even a derivative AFAIK, because nothing has been added or altered, just scenes cut.(don't know on that, do they change dialogue?). If so I 'll give one point to the MAFIAA then, but cutting scenes out? Nope, fair use, same as tearing a page out of a copyrighted book and re selling it "as is". Or is it your belief that that is illegal? So does it matter the media used for cutting out a scene? Copyright for print is different than for disks? Can I go to a bookpage ripping company and tell them "I really don't like the word "zebra", gives me the willies, if you find any such word in these books, cut them out please". Illegal? Weird maybe, but illegal, voids copyright? Don't think so....
On reflection, I'll still stick with my orginal assessment, judge = out to lunch-proly on the MAFIAA tab
...from the OTA versions of (some) movies the major broadcasters show all the time? Those versions are "censored" and have a lot of "naughty bits' taken out, you can see the disclaimers at the beginning of the movie. "this version has been edited for television and etc" So...where's their beef here? That someone else is doing it? The court was wrong in this case, past precedent and so on near as I can see it. And what about the classic "Own it today on DVD!". Wazzup with that, they *claim* if you buy it you can "own it" in their own words. I see those ads from the MAFIAA all the time, too. If I own it, I can chop it up, bend it spindle it mutilate it and re-sell it, it's physical property. I can't make a thousand dupes and sell them, but the single copy I have is mine. And these guys appear to have been very careful to do a one straight copy for one modded copy deal here, all monies still go to the MAFIAA, those they are owed.
Meh, the whole copyright business is so borken it's a waste of time. I think I'll stick with the "who cares?" model and only buy used stuff until they come to their senses with all this nonsense.
Here's a for instance, a variation on it, instead of censoring out, how about placing-in as an option? I think it would be a hoot to get something like star wars with some added scenes and dialogue from third parties, like more bar scenes! How about princess lea's half sisters and their "hidden secrets"? Huh, huh, sounding better now? How about a jabba the hut family BBQ scene? I mean, this has potential here!
Really...the anything goes wild wild west anarchy internet is a *complete total threat to governments all over the planet and large corporations*. Everything about the current and past model is a threat to them. It's a threat to their rule, (they call it governing but it really is rule-technofuedalism) a threat to their money(your money is their money by default), the way they want power over you politically or economically, etc. All of it. So..apply occam's razor and some extrapolation-what do you think will happen? What this article says-and more.
It is about inevitable they will slice it up into something that looks like a combo of your cellphone bill and cable TV bill. You'll be seeing a large number of "nets" and be forced into "subscribing" to one or another-think a lot of different closed up walled garden type AOL experiences. And be paying through the nose to go outside that area-or be denied totally. And they'll be completely happy if 95% get herded into their control more, they'll pick off the other 5% at their leisure and when it suits their purposes. No one is completely leet enough to avoid it if they get a notion to mess up your day. No one.
thanks for the reply! This voice activated tech, etc is INCREDIBLY important for the future as our population ages. Reading is one step, next comes more complex commands, total control over the box.
Younger folks don't see it yet, it's off their radar, but as you get older you lose hand/finger functionality and a large proportion of the population gets arthritis and has a difficult time with keyboards. Businesses who get a jump on this and other accessibility features are going to be big winners and raking in the loot in the long run. My GF for instance (we are both early boomers) can barely use any new cell phone now from the size of the buttons, just too small, let alone being able to see tiny screens, and typing for her is a painful chore so she doesn't user her computer very much at all. I am hoping that voice tech gets a much larger interest level, maybe one of the opera guys will read this and stay enthused about it.
Several years ago I had a mac classic program that opened and closed apps with voice commands, it worked quite well, but the funny thing was sometimes the TV or something would trigger it by keyword.
I don't have windows so haven't tried the voice feature, but from those that do, how do you like it? I wonder how the linux port of that is doing. I just d/l and checked, not in it yet...
ya man, know what ya mean. In that general area I used to like the varsity, the old pre olympics thelma's, pitty pats porch (I could move in there) and the great wall inside the omni. There's another one, dang can't remember their name anymore, BBQ joint by grant park has live jazz sometimes. You ever go to the Trackside in decatur by agnes snot? That was good too for wings/chicken.
Slashdot Mirror
...food co-op. The usual arrangement is working members at x-hours per month labor (stock, sweep floors, unload trucks-whatever) get their stuff as near to wholesale as possible.
..no controversy at all. The NFL and NHL will take care of any so called "debate" over the new cloned neanderthals being "legit humans" or not...
..but I recalled this site existed
http://www.litepc.com/xplite.html
I imagine they have determined all of those services and figured out which are really necessary or not
..maybe it is because India all by itself is a significant chunk of the entire world population? That they are more or less bypassing an entire generation of old technology and going into wireless everything rather than trying to duplicate a wired infrastructure that would cost quad zillions in today's money? That news and interesting stuff comes from there? That a lot of US and other western nation corporations are developing a presence there? Maybe we shouldn't ignore that? Maybe a lot of Slashdotters are there because of Indias push into high tech, and others are interested?
Just guesses...
tzero has an attachable "range extender" for their pure electric sportscar, precisely for long trips. It turns an electric into a hybrid when needed, so that during the commuting week, you can be pure electric, weekends or vacation time, bolt this thing on and go driving like normal. Here is an url for the unit.
i ng_trailers.htm
http://www.acpropulsion.com/Products/Range_extend
You could take the same idea and build a bolt on unit yourself. Being in alaska I am sure there are any number of generator outfits you have access to. As to the electric ride, kits are out there on the web to convert normal cars or pickups. So, build a kit, get a trailer, slam a small diesel genny in the trailer, make a nice plug...load up the rest of your gear.. go for a long drive..seems doable...
So, there's one answer from a near-zealot. snort. Been reported here in several other electric vehicle discussions. Anyway, it might not be perfect, but nothing else is either. It's a cinch that the days of cheap fuel are over,(cheap in cost to the wallet, I once paid 12 cents a gallon when I was a teenager, double HA!, cheap in cost to the environment and people's health, etc) barring some tremendous breakthrough and the hundred buck backyard Mr. Fusion.
hahahahaha!
well, I understand their reasoning, just don't agree with it. They make more money short term by short changing on support or lowballing on components to cheap crap. Long term is a different matter entirely, people could easily get soured on them and go shopping around on their next machine, leading to "slumping sales" and "the board" and "investors" not understanding why this is so. Tell ya what, make "the board" jump through the same hoops and not get preferential treatment when THEY have an issue, things might change. It's a lot like hollywood multimillionaires in the MAFIAA not "getting it" why people thinking 20 bucks for a plastic disk is a ripoff-no realistic frame of reference on what 20 dollars is to joe sixpack...Here's a real world example, detroit in the 70's, lost a ton of market share by making throw away break easily vehicles. Just didn't "get it" that people were starting to get tired of paying for grade C quality and rank mileage.(I used to be in the UAW there and can attest to this disconnect, both management and rank and file workers had it in spades then, pure cognitive dissonance) One or the other customers might put up with,if the price stayed cheap,but BOTH combined with nutso pricing hurt detroit to this day. But back then, according to about every other human I discussed this with, I was "wrong". Sure would be fun to go track down some of them arrogant dudes and have the same discussion today! hahahaha!
Personally, I think for non techies, they are much better off to go to the closest reasonable whitebox shop and get a new box there(even if it is 50$ (whatever)more than a name brand like Dell), then they know exactly where tech support will be. And frequently the whitebox guys wil help them setup a scosh better functionality and security at the same time and not include a ton of spyware at first boot...That's what I tell folks when they ask for a recommendation, if they aren't comfortable assembling their own machine from components. Do a local business-nerd a favor, keep the money local, solve your probs local, everyone stays loyal to each other = much better situation all around, generally speaking.
It's not racist to want to be able to actually understand the dialect being spoken. Big companies should get a clue and realise that the US is so large that regional accents evolved, and automatically route incoming calls based on geography/area code to a *regional* call center staffed by regional dialect speaking persons. This is just normal common sense.
Customers call up when they already have a problem that needs to be fixed, so they are not amused immediately, then, right off the bat this is what happens :
1)the customer gets someone named "Mike" who really isn't named Mike, so that annoys the customer because they know they have just been *lied to*(this is supposed to instill confidence and respect?)by the company, and...
2) there IS a language barrier as the conversation goes on, so trying to diffuse an annoyed customer with a problem and analyse this problem one might think that clear and easy to understand-for both parties-speech would be the proper move. It should be a priority, not a cost cutting measure.
Short term it might not be the cheapest, longer term it is the way to happier customers, those folks you want repeat business from. Now if "Mike" can pull off changing dialects easily as he transits between a host of customers-more power to him, it's hard enough being a native born USian to do this and carry on a satisfactory two way conversation sometimes.
No one in the US wants the outside the border folks to not have jobs, that isn't the issue at all, the issue is they are starting to get fried that domestic jobs that still need to be done (non buggywhip jobs, even if low balled in the economy) are shipped away, then when you need to access this service it is far from a satisfactory experience for a lot of people.
These are legitimate problems, that acctually could be fixed, but that would impact the "bottom line" of some already rich people and some middleman wealth skimmers.
yes, that's it, which should make small shops think about making a "me,too!" version rather than just working with an existing one. If they can't afford it, maybe reconsider the whole project or look to additional startup funding before proceeding.
thanks for the link! Looks pretty interesting.
*snort* hehehehehehe funny stuff man, sooo true..
Is this a problem with all lithium ion batteries, or just bad batches with even worse quality control? Is the design itself just prone to failure? I really don't know, just lithium ions are also being touted as the batteries to go to in plug-in hybrids, so this might set back that tech if the design itself is suspect.
Really? What government law enforcement agency is auditing closed source companies' code looking for GPL violations? I'd bet a lot more than a nickle that there is quite a bit of purloined code floating around inside closed source commercial software.....
And how come despite generations-not just decades but now generations of the music industry engaging in illegal activity like payola that none of them have just been shut down, perhaps under the RICO act? Allofsoftware.com might fly over there, over here they would use SWAT teams and machine guns and teargas, then sic the lawyers on them.
and I am only half joking there....
In the US this situation is easy to quantify, those with the most cash in the largest sacks get "law engforcement" action and favorable legislation. Everyone else gets taxed to pay for that, sort of a double-screw-U.
The system is totally corrupt, IMO, it's not even fixable at this point, not with the same old Ds and Rs "in charge" it isn't.
It's a prelude and a guidance primarily for government data centers. There, they can mandate it to happen (eventually anyway), as servers get replaced or as new ones go online. They are hoping that the idea carries over to the private sector. This is similar how a lot of government fleet vehicles are now going to flex fuel engines. Government is somewhat different from the private sector, they don't have to show a profit, so there's even less incentive to be energy efficient. This puts them all on notice to at least start to think about it seriously.
But ya, it's "feel good" legislation, that's true as well.
He typed at a standup desk as well, at least sometimes. I remember seeing a pic of it.
Of course, then he offed himself, so maybe this isn't such a good idea...
...article, claims unverified, presented "as is"
i ssles.htm
http://www.house.gov/israel/issues/shoulderfiredm
Make it a games centered (included and prominent on the cover print)linux distro (with surfing and chat tools, etc) instead and it will get used at least once and not thrown out.
Speaking of which, on making CDs/DVDs, anyone get lightscribe to work under linux? I'm looking to get a new drive and was wondering about this, the tech looks interesting.
What do the EU nations have that might be akin to eminent domain seizures in the US? Here, unfortnately IMO, the supremes have ruled that property can be taken (by government) even for simple economic gain of third parties, such as transferring your land for a new golf course because it might bump up the local proerty taxes, etc. Seems like copyrights could fall under that, because they have made provisions for patent takings in the past. Perhaps they could just take the source themselves and open it, I believe the source code has already been provided to various governments...
note: I am not a huge MS fan, far from it, but I think they are treading on thin ice here and could lose out significantly if they keep waffling.
..who's doing the cut? If you are watching-random here- say a move on ABC and it is "edited for television", is ABC doing the cut, or does the movie producer do the cut? And again, if you own the copy, and they admit in public in their ads you can "own it today on DVD!", you can't delete scenes if you want to? Or you hire a service that does it for you? How about a translation, if they won't provide one in *your* language?
Gray area at best, I am not seeing a clear black/white here yet, but I usually fall on the side of owner's rights, in this case, the owners of the purchased legitimate disks. No one in this situation is taking anything from the original copyright holder, neither money nor credit, and the only copies involved in any of these transactions are legitimately purchased ones. There has been zero copyright infringement that I can see. It's not even a derivative AFAIK, because nothing has been added or altered, just scenes cut.(don't know on that, do they change dialogue?). If so I 'll give one point to the MAFIAA then, but cutting scenes out? Nope, fair use, same as tearing a page out of a copyrighted book and re selling it "as is". Or is it your belief that that is illegal? So does it matter the media used for cutting out a scene? Copyright for print is different than for disks? Can I go to a bookpage ripping company and tell them "I really don't like the word "zebra", gives me the willies, if you find any such word in these books, cut them out please". Illegal? Weird maybe, but illegal, voids copyright? Don't think so....
On reflection, I'll still stick with my orginal assessment, judge = out to lunch-proly on the MAFIAA tab
...from the OTA versions of (some) movies the major broadcasters show all the time? Those versions are "censored" and have a lot of "naughty bits' taken out, you can see the disclaimers at the beginning of the movie. "this version has been edited for television and etc" So...where's their beef here? That someone else is doing it? The court was wrong in this case, past precedent and so on near as I can see it. And what about the classic "Own it today on DVD!". Wazzup with that, they *claim* if you buy it you can "own it" in their own words. I see those ads from the MAFIAA all the time, too. If I own it, I can chop it up, bend it spindle it mutilate it and re-sell it, it's physical property. I can't make a thousand dupes and sell them, but the single copy I have is mine. And these guys appear to have been very careful to do a one straight copy for one modded copy deal here, all monies still go to the MAFIAA, those they are owed.
Meh, the whole copyright business is so borken it's a waste of time. I think I'll stick with the "who cares?" model and only buy used stuff until they come to their senses with all this nonsense.
Here's a for instance, a variation on it, instead of censoring out, how about placing-in as an option? I think it would be a hoot to get something like star wars with some added scenes and dialogue from third parties, like more bar scenes! How about princess lea's half sisters and their "hidden secrets"? Huh, huh, sounding better now? How about a jabba the hut family BBQ scene? I mean, this has potential here!
Really...the anything goes wild wild west anarchy internet is a *complete total threat to governments all over the planet and large corporations*. Everything about the current and past model is a threat to them. It's a threat to their rule, (they call it governing but it really is rule-technofuedalism) a threat to their money(your money is their money by default), the way they want power over you politically or economically, etc. All of it. So..apply occam's razor and some extrapolation-what do you think will happen? What this article says-and more.
It is about inevitable they will slice it up into something that looks like a combo of your cellphone bill and cable TV bill. You'll be seeing a large number of "nets" and be forced into "subscribing" to one or another-think a lot of different closed up walled garden type AOL experiences. And be paying through the nose to go outside that area-or be denied totally. And they'll be completely happy if 95% get herded into their control more, they'll pick off the other 5% at their leisure and when it suits their purposes. No one is completely leet enough to avoid it if they get a notion to mess up your day. No one.
thanks for the reply! This voice activated tech, etc is INCREDIBLY important for the future as our population ages. Reading is one step, next comes more complex commands, total control over the box.
Younger folks don't see it yet, it's off their radar, but as you get older you lose hand/finger functionality and a large proportion of the population gets arthritis and has a difficult time with keyboards. Businesses who get a jump on this and other accessibility features are going to be big winners and raking in the loot in the long run. My GF for instance (we are both early boomers) can barely use any new cell phone now from the size of the buttons, just too small, let alone being able to see tiny screens, and typing for her is a painful chore so she doesn't user her computer very much at all. I am hoping that voice tech gets a much larger interest level, maybe one of the opera guys will read this and stay enthused about it.
Several years ago I had a mac classic program that opened and closed apps with voice commands, it worked quite well, but the funny thing was sometimes the TV or something would trigger it by keyword.
I don't have windows so haven't tried the voice feature, but from those that do, how do you like it? I wonder how the linux port of that is doing. I just d/l and checked, not in it yet...
ya man, know what ya mean. In that general area I used to like the varsity, the old pre olympics thelma's, pitty pats porch (I could move in there) and the great wall inside the omni. There's another one, dang can't remember their name anymore, BBQ joint by grant park has live jazz sometimes. You ever go to the Trackside in decatur by agnes snot? That was good too for wings/chicken.
..just to prove I'm not kidding, here is an overview article I found
w .html
http://www.atlantasmartcity.com/html/work/overvie