Back in the mid 1980s when CDs first came out you had a choice of LP, CD, or Tape. The typical list price for a new release LP or tape was $8.99. The CD list price was $16.99.
Their reason: There was a backlog of over a year to manufacture "back catalog releases". They (record industry) said the price high price of CD was because of the manufacturing process, as well as supply and demand.
Well for CDs there's no backlog now, they use less raw material, and provide less artwork. And yet the CD price remains inflated.
Does the artist get more royalties for CD than a LP or cassette? I think not.
Years ago a co-worker gave me a gift. I forget what it was. She didn't have a whole lot of money and it was the thought that counted. Right? Anyway she wrapped it in a shoebox.
I took the wrapping off and yelled with delight "A new accounting system! Just what I needed!".
It got a big laugh.
Each year I look forward to getting a gift in "shoe boxes" so I can spread some humor.
"The best way to educate someone is to entertain them" -- Buford Babb
I always clean out my desk before Christmas and use the cache as gifts. Most of the things are logo promos from trade shows. You know, stuff like envelope openers, pens, highlighters, koozies, golf tees.
I wrap each individually and number them. Then after Christmas dinner and the gift exchanges, I run my lottery. One year I put barcodes on each and everyone had to scan their number.
Neices and nephews are thrilled. In-laws think I spent a lot, and I have a clean desk for the new year.
"Step right up and win some crap"--Steve Martin in "The Jerk"
Last week I polled 10 friends and family members if they were watching "Taken" on the SciFi channel.
Three didn't have cable and didn't know about it.
Three had cable and kids and didnt watch evening weekday television after 9pm.
One was watching.
The rest where Christmas shopping or otherwise had a life and didn't know what I was talking about.
As for myself, I experienced lost time. Like about 20 hours worth over the last two week.
When demand goes down, and prices are increased to make up the revenue, you start an avalance effect that will hasten the downfall.
When I was I Taiwan in the 1970s, vinyl LPs were all the rage. Like other GIs, I bought a fancy stereo system taxfree from the PX and recorded music on my AKAI reel to reel.
There was a lot of music swapping between GI's going on back then.
In downtown Taipei, you could find counterfeit albums for 25-50 cents. The rule of thumb was to listen to it once for QC. Verify that there weren't too many scratches, skips or pops. If it passed muster, record it and throw it away. Let your buddies record from your tape.
After playing one of those LPs 4 or 5 times you could see a rooster tail of wax trailing the needle! At that point any resemblance to music was purely coincidental.
I wonder if you have to clean the laser on your DVD player after playing one of those discs?
Last month I escorted my 82-year
old mother to the 301th Bomb/Wing Group Reunion in San Antonio,
Texas. My dad was a WWII B17 engineer. He passed away in 1993 but my mother still attends their reunions. We flew from New Orleans to San Antonio.
Talk about targeting the wrong group! At the reunion 70 and 80
year olds talked about their experiences in airports with
hip pins, skull plates, and shrapnel in their body from the war!
My diabetic mother, wheelchair bound, was hand searched.
They even went as far as patting down here swollen bare ankles.
Like she had a fat body suit to conceal something!
I learned my lesson from this experience. Read on...
Regarding metal detectors.
Previously, it was three strikes, you're out. That is:
Walk thru once, set it off. Empty your pockets and try again.
Strike two if you didn't pass. Then you got the individual treatment.
Now they now have a zero tolerance attitude. If you set it off,
you get queued up for the body search.
So now, I remove everything from my body (watch, wireframe glasses,
QRay braclet) and everything out of my pockets: (wallet, keys, coins,
daytimer (with spiral binding)). But I hide all of it from public scrutiny.
I carry an empty trade show canvas/cloth bag. At the security point
I fill it and it tie-off. It goes through Xrays with my carry-on while
I walk through.
I've seen bulging wallets sitting on the counter while the traveller waits to be frisked.
Put your wallet in a carry-on or something but never leave
it in plain view on the Xray conveyor belt. You may be detained up to 25 minutes waiting
to be searched.
And they will not let you touch anything that
went through xrays while you wait.
This book has it all: subterrain Earth exploration and exploitation; war mongers; mercenaries; and a hadal ancient civilization lead by a Jesuit priest. I'll never go into another cave or mine shaft!
85% [wired.com] of their time is required for maintenance
I think its interesting that unmanned communication and photo satellites are essentially maintenace-free. Are they are designed better? Or is it the oxygen rich environment and human contact that causes the problems?
Reminds me of a design review of a software project.
Option 1. Implement mods to support new requirements: +$100K.
Option 2. Don't implement requested mods: +$105K.
What were you doing in July 1969? I was an amateur photographer. My Uncle Joe had recently given me his black and white darkroom setup. I took pictures of the moon landing from our TV screen.
In August 1969, when the Apollo astronauts visited their hometowns, I covered Mike Collins' ticker tape parade in New Orleans for our school newspaper. I got to shake his hand! I remember thinking how small his hand was.
In the darkroom, I would enlarge negatives and print photos, and for effect, use techniques called cropping and vignetting. Cropping prints only the interesting portion of the photo. Vignetting was used if there were over or under exposed areas on the negative. I would block the light from the enlarger for a section of the photo that was overexposed, and give more light to underexposed areas (shadows). I used different paper stock which also controlled contrast.
When I saw the color moon photos in LIFE magazine I remember thinking what a great job the NASA photo darkroom staff must have done cropping and vignetting the photos.
I think its human nature to disbelieve things we can't see.
Several years ago at Cape Canaveral, Florida I had the opportunity to tour the full scale relica of the Ducan Hindes. That was the ship that Sir Francis Drake sailed around the world in. Its still hard to believe that a over 100 sailors could carry provision and make such a journey on such a small vessel.
I never look at the classified section in the newspaper. I look at the auto dealer section every 5 years when I buy a car. Junk mail goes in the circular file unopened. Radio buttons are designed to change stations (when you don't like something...commercial?).
I went away to college. The city's entertainment center was named after it founder, Herman Heyman (pronounced hy-men).
When I went home that year for Christmas my parents got all embarrassed when I announced in front of family and their friends that I would go to the Heyman Center for a good time.
But Bell's group calculates that within five years, a 1000-gigabyte hard drive will cost less than $300 - and that is enough to store four hours of video every day for a year.
But you will need a second drive because M$ Windows XXX-P will certainly fill the first one.
A system like MyLifeBits was first suggested in 1945, when presidential technology
adviser Vannevar Bush hatched the then farsighted idea of an infinite personal
archive based on the emerging digital computer. His ideas also inspired the
internet archive website.
And I thought it was Al Gore who took credit for it!
I had a mouse that failed in the x-axis. I opened
it up and it started working. Apparently, the Infrared LED (invisible) burned out, but the IR reciever was okay. And the mouse worked fine with office lights as its light source.
Slashdot Mirror
Back in the mid 1980s when CDs first came out you had a choice of LP, CD, or Tape. The typical list price for a new release LP or tape was $8.99. The CD list price was $16.99.
Their reason: There was a backlog of over a year to manufacture "back catalog releases". They (record industry) said the price high price of CD was because of the manufacturing process, as well as supply and demand.
Well for CDs there's no backlog now, they use less raw material, and provide less artwork. And yet the CD price remains inflated.
Does the artist get more royalties for CD than a LP or cassette? I think not.
I took the wrapping off and yelled with delight "A new accounting system! Just what I needed!". It got a big laugh.
Each year I look forward to getting a gift in "shoe boxes" so I can spread some humor.
"The best way to educate someone is to entertain them" -- Buford Babb
I always clean out my desk before Christmas and use the cache as gifts. Most of the things are logo promos from trade shows. You know, stuff like envelope openers, pens, highlighters, koozies, golf tees.
I wrap each individually and number them. Then after Christmas dinner and the gift exchanges, I run my lottery. One year I put barcodes on each and everyone had to scan their number.
Neices and nephews are thrilled. In-laws think I spent a lot, and I have a clean desk for the new year.
"Step right up and win some crap"--Steve Martin in "The Jerk"
Last week I polled 10 friends and family members if they were watching "Taken" on the SciFi channel.
Three didn't have cable and didn't know about it.
Three had cable and kids and didnt watch evening weekday television after 9pm.
One was watching.
The rest where Christmas shopping or otherwise had a life and didn't know what I was talking about.
As for myself, I experienced lost time. Like about 20 hours worth over the last two week.
When demand goes down, and prices are increased to make up the revenue, you start an avalance effect that will hasten the downfall.
Oh, the humanity!
The network neighborhood that is.
There was a lot of music swapping between GI's going on back then.
In downtown Taipei, you could find counterfeit albums for 25-50 cents. The rule of thumb was to listen to it once for QC. Verify that there weren't too many scratches, skips or pops. If it passed muster, record it and throw it away. Let your buddies record from your tape.
After playing one of those LPs 4 or 5 times you could see a rooster tail of wax trailing the needle! At that point any resemblance to music was purely coincidental.
I wonder if you have to clean the laser on your DVD player after playing one of those discs?
Talk about targeting the wrong group! At the reunion 70 and 80 year olds talked about their experiences in airports with hip pins, skull plates, and shrapnel in their body from the war!
My diabetic mother, wheelchair bound, was hand searched. They even went as far as patting down here swollen bare ankles. Like she had a fat body suit to conceal something!
I learned my lesson from this experience. Read on... Regarding metal detectors.
Previously, it was three strikes, you're out. That is: Walk thru once, set it off. Empty your pockets and try again. Strike two if you didn't pass. Then you got the individual treatment.
Now they now have a zero tolerance attitude. If you set it off, you get queued up for the body search.
So now, I remove everything from my body (watch, wireframe glasses, QRay braclet) and everything out of my pockets: (wallet, keys, coins, daytimer (with spiral binding)). But I hide all of it from public scrutiny.
I carry an empty trade show canvas/cloth bag. At the security point I fill it and it tie-off. It goes through Xrays with my carry-on while I walk through.
I've seen bulging wallets sitting on the counter while the traveller waits to be frisked.
Put your wallet in a carry-on or something but never leave it in plain view on the Xray conveyor belt. You may be detained up to 25 minutes waiting to be searched. And they will not let you touch anything that went through xrays while you wait.
"Locks keep an honest person honest" --Unknown
When you buy a car, do you have to sign a EULA that you won't speed or use it in criminal activity?
When you buy a gun, do you have to sign a EULA that you will only use it in self defense or against defenseless four legged creatures?
When you buy a sprinkler system, do you have to sign a EULA that you will not use it to grow pot?
When you buy a phone, do you have to sign a EULA that you wont use it for DIAL-A-BABE?
When you buy a camera, do you have to sign a EULA that you won't use it for p0rn?
Then what makes software so special?
Sex and violence. Thats entertainment. Here a LEGO sex link: Lego sex. I was surprised that Bill and Monica weren't portrayed.
This book has it all: subterrain Earth exploration and exploitation; war mongers; mercenaries; and a hadal ancient civilization lead by a Jesuit priest. I'll never go into another cave or mine shaft!
I think its interesting that unmanned communication and photo satellites are essentially maintenace-free. Are they are designed better? Or is it the oxygen rich environment and human contact that causes the problems?
Reminds me of a design review of a software project.
Option 1. Implement mods to support new requirements: +$100K.
Option 2. Don't implement requested mods: +$105K.
Management decision: Knife the baby.
"It's usually better to have 1% of the watermelon than 99% of the grape." --Economics 101
The story came from the heart...but my stomach got in the way.
What were you doing in July 1969? I was an amateur photographer. My Uncle Joe had recently given me his black and white darkroom setup. I took pictures of the moon landing from our TV screen.
In August 1969, when the Apollo astronauts visited their hometowns, I covered Mike Collins' ticker tape parade in New Orleans for our school newspaper. I got to shake his hand! I remember thinking how small his hand was.
In the darkroom, I would enlarge negatives and print photos, and for effect, use techniques called cropping and vignetting. Cropping prints only the interesting portion of the photo. Vignetting was used if there were over or under exposed areas on the negative. I would block the light from the enlarger for a section of the photo that was overexposed, and give more light to underexposed areas (shadows). I used different paper stock which also controlled contrast.
When I saw the color moon photos in LIFE magazine I remember thinking what a great job the NASA photo darkroom staff must have done cropping and vignetting the photos.
I think its human nature to disbelieve things we can't see.
Several years ago at Cape Canaveral, Florida I had the opportunity to tour the full scale relica of the Ducan Hindes. That was the ship that Sir Francis Drake sailed around the world in. Its still hard to believe that a over 100 sailors could carry provision and make such a journey on such a small vessel.
"Yee of little faith" -- Jesus to Thomas
I never look at the classified section in the newspaper. I look at the auto dealer section every 5 years when I buy a car. Junk mail goes in the circular file unopened. Radio buttons are designed to change stations (when you don't like something...commercial?).
Am I a felon for these crimes?
When I went home that year for Christmas my parents got all embarrassed when I announced in front of family and their friends that I would go to the Heyman Center for a good time.
But you will need a second drive because M$ Windows XXX-P will certainly fill the first one.
And I thought it was Al Gore who took credit for it!
You drive by the ghetto and see them sitting on blocks, sans wheels!
I enjoyed your performance as the big giant head on 3rd Rock from the Sun. Will you be doing more comedy rolls?
Who's your father's son that's not your brother? (I hope you don't say Dan Quayle)
Is it hermetically sealed? What is its shelf life if it isnt't opened? I recycle my AOL CDs as Christmas tree ornaments. Tis the season!
I had a mouse that failed in the x-axis. I opened it up and it started working. Apparently, the Infrared LED (invisible) burned out, but the IR reciever was okay. And the mouse worked fine with office lights as its light source.