IMHO, George Martin, also known as the "5th Beatle" and his elite circle of musicologist friends, had a great deal to do with the sophistication of the Beatles best stuff - it has to be remembered that none of them was musically literate enough to read or write music, and the only Beatle that arguably knew his way thoroughly around the fretboard was George, "the quiet Beatle". To fully appreciate this, try listening to the Beatles live and compare this with the recorded versions of the same songs.
Some of the ancient modal (Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian) progressions heard on Beatles tracks like Eleanor Rigby are also never heard again on Lennon, McCartney or Harrison solo efforts, which leads one to strongly suspect that a lot of that input was beyond their musical understanding. Ravi Shankar and the "Maharishi" effect also enriched their repertoire, as did the likes of Billy Preston and several other session musicians who were rarely if ever credited (Billy Preston was credited for his work, although several others are still in litigation to this day).
Having said that, I think the Beatles' greatest strength was, like the Tamla Motown stuff in the same era, the finger they had on the pulse of 60's Yuppie love (Western industries were booming with oil at 36 cents a barrel prior to the ruinous effect of the 7-Day War; although the phrase Yuppie hadn't been coined yet, there were a fair lot of them around as a result of the boom).
As the reality of Geopolitics and the threat of Nuclear War, Civil Liberties and Middle-Eastern terrorism began to bite, a new Sound of Social Realism overtook the Beatles and Tamla Motown, and they rapidly became an irrelevance in spite of their best efforts to change with the times and drop out with the Hippie underground. This new wave was also led by more seasoned live performers and virtuosos like Hendrix, Clapton, Page, Santana, Sly and the Family Stone, Curtis Mayfield to name but a few of the galactic personas that emerged on the turbulent scene.
That hasn't stopped the awesome statistic that for every minute of every day, a Beatles song is being played somewhere on a radio, TV or Internet station, which translates to a lot of good business for the publishers, rights-holders and now iTunes.
Who knows, posterity may yet find a use for the abandoned HD-DVD format, much like the broadcast TV industry adopted the BetaMax format for use in advanced video editing, leveraging those qualities that failed to impress the market in its struggle with VHS.
Having lost the war, HD-DVD may well win a few battles that may justify and pay back some of its R&D, marketing and distribution costs.
Development, development, development is an incredibly complicated process that requires co-ordination, co-ordination, co-ordination, especially if you want to deliver a certain hallmark of quality and consistent level of usability that identifies your product above all others.
This motley crew of 3rd party developers can hardly be said to have a development road-map that is synchronised with that of the device manufacturer, Apple, or indeed with each other. Some are in it for the technical challenge, some just want to "stick it to the man", some are dying to be loved, popular, or to get laid, some want to do it for the money, etc. Where's the guarantee that these developers will "stay the course" and not just drift off to some other product platform when the inclination grabs them? Where's the testing to ensure that application A does not interfere with the stack used by applications B, C, E & J?
It is not surprising to read the remarks of users of jailbroken iPhones regarding the number of times they have to "re-initialise" or reboot their modded gadget in everyday use of their hacked applications. Does this gripe not vaguely remind you of one of the chronic ills of one particular software platform that "understands the importance of developers, developers, developers"?
This is precisely why Apple's iPhone is making such inroads and waves into an industry of which they have such little experience. Hitherto the mobile apps scene has been revealed as an absolute mess of bandit-country proportions and this is a big indictment of the existing Big Players on the mobile applications scene, who are reportedly hurrying back to the drawing-board to assess anew the slick, co-ordinated and planned approach to usability and user-interfacing that the iPhone has unleashed upon their cosy fiefdoms like a cluster bomb.
Hopefully, with the release of an SDK next year, the more committed and enterprising of these developers in the wild can adopt a more consistent approach to building elegant, cool, simple and reliable apps that echo the trademark Apple approach to making money the proper and considerate way.
I suspect strongly that Apple will have "a ringside seat at the Android show" just like Google has a seat in the Apple boardroom. Also, just as the 2 soul-mates have common plans regarding the impending world-wide frequency allocation auctions, their plans as regards the future of the mobile apps and gadgets industry will prove to be synergistic and mutually inclusive rather than all-out competitive. So I say, roll on Android, roll on iPhone SDK!!! 2008 (and beyond) is gearing up to be a very interesting time as regards game-changing disruption that can only benefit the user...
"When a system administrator begins to believe that their entire function is self-serving, that they are there to support their own operations, that's when I've seen things go bad"
Too true, too true. One point to remember is that SysAdmins, just like any other members of a corporation or Society like lawyers, politicians and criminals (any difference?), can be unethical, self-serving, lazy bastards. Add to this a desire to be praised and needed and a total disdain for proper documentation, and you have a deadly concoction waiting to unleash disaster.
Sadly, this has been my corporate experience in the last few years, preceded by a Golden Age of near zero downtime which as usual was not appreciated owing to its non-eventfulness.
My advice to all progressive corporations is to learn to appreciate when you have good SysAdmin(s), encourage and reward them commensurately before they move on to greener pastures, which exist aplenty for this unique worker.
A thorough worker is a perfectionist, one that takes pride in his/her work rather than the kudos received from above them in the food chain, and this general rule applies to SysAdmins as well.
It is systematic genocides of this nature, carried out over several centuries in diverse parts of the world in Mankind's long history, that make the findings of our genealogy so surprisingly skewed...
What's generally unrecognised in the world at large is the VERY REAL fact that several foreign entrepreneurs return from very dicey investment forays into Nigeria with up to 100 times their initial investment! The multitudes of successful freebooters include barely literate working-class type adventurers like laundrymen and gardeners returning home with the wherewithal to buy yachts and luxury homes, and attracting a lot of local attention due to their meteoric rise in lifestyle (which, due to their lowly beginnings, they hardly disguise). They also pass along by word of mouth exaggerated tales of a bottomless pit of largesse for the taking out there...
This, rather than simple gullibility and greed, coupled with the no-questions-asked-if-you pay-a-bribe policy of the Nigerian authorities is what serves as an irresistible magnet for the "greedy and stupid people" osgeek refers to. I cannot imagine coming to the USA or Australia with a million dollars and leaving with 100 million without being investigated by the Securities and Exchange Commission, Inland Revenue or similar authority in those countries, but that's contemporary Nigeria for you...
There is a personal account from an undercover FBI agent assigned to investigate the scams which actually describes how he could feel himself being slowly drawn into the hope that there really was money at the end of the undertaking!!!
The only reason these scams endure is that there is really a lot of dirty money to be made out of a country blessed with the "unaided bounty of nature - Crude Oil" and cursed with institutionalised corruption that allows its wealth to be drained by unscrupulous forces within and without its borders.
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Not by coincidence, it seems, is "wealth" an anagram of "the law"
Slowly but surely, and we'll recall with hindsight that it started in an obscure mining town in British Columbia...
IMHO, George Martin, also known as the "5th Beatle" and his elite circle of musicologist friends, had a great deal to do with the sophistication of the Beatles best stuff - it has to be remembered that none of them was musically literate enough to read or write music, and the only Beatle that arguably knew his way thoroughly around the fretboard was George, "the quiet Beatle". To fully appreciate this, try listening to the Beatles live and compare this with the recorded versions of the same songs. Some of the ancient modal (Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian) progressions heard on Beatles tracks like Eleanor Rigby are also never heard again on Lennon, McCartney or Harrison solo efforts, which leads one to strongly suspect that a lot of that input was beyond their musical understanding. Ravi Shankar and the "Maharishi" effect also enriched their repertoire, as did the likes of Billy Preston and several other session musicians who were rarely if ever credited (Billy Preston was credited for his work, although several others are still in litigation to this day). Having said that, I think the Beatles' greatest strength was, like the Tamla Motown stuff in the same era, the finger they had on the pulse of 60's Yuppie love (Western industries were booming with oil at 36 cents a barrel prior to the ruinous effect of the 7-Day War; although the phrase Yuppie hadn't been coined yet, there were a fair lot of them around as a result of the boom). As the reality of Geopolitics and the threat of Nuclear War, Civil Liberties and Middle-Eastern terrorism began to bite, a new Sound of Social Realism overtook the Beatles and Tamla Motown, and they rapidly became an irrelevance in spite of their best efforts to change with the times and drop out with the Hippie underground. This new wave was also led by more seasoned live performers and virtuosos like Hendrix, Clapton, Page, Santana, Sly and the Family Stone, Curtis Mayfield to name but a few of the galactic personas that emerged on the turbulent scene. That hasn't stopped the awesome statistic that for every minute of every day, a Beatles song is being played somewhere on a radio, TV or Internet station, which translates to a lot of good business for the publishers, rights-holders and now iTunes.
Who knows, posterity may yet find a use for the abandoned HD-DVD format, much like the broadcast TV industry adopted the BetaMax format for use in advanced video editing, leveraging those qualities that failed to impress the market in its struggle with VHS. Having lost the war, HD-DVD may well win a few battles that may justify and pay back some of its R&D, marketing and distribution costs.
"Erm, babycakes,is that a Beretta or Dillinger in your Bra or are you just charging up your Blower?"
Development, development, development is an incredibly complicated process that requires co-ordination, co-ordination, co-ordination, especially if you want to deliver a certain hallmark of quality and consistent level of usability that identifies your product above all others. This motley crew of 3rd party developers can hardly be said to have a development road-map that is synchronised with that of the device manufacturer, Apple, or indeed with each other. Some are in it for the technical challenge, some just want to "stick it to the man", some are dying to be loved, popular, or to get laid, some want to do it for the money, etc. Where's the guarantee that these developers will "stay the course" and not just drift off to some other product platform when the inclination grabs them? Where's the testing to ensure that application A does not interfere with the stack used by applications B, C, E & J? It is not surprising to read the remarks of users of jailbroken iPhones regarding the number of times they have to "re-initialise" or reboot their modded gadget in everyday use of their hacked applications. Does this gripe not vaguely remind you of one of the chronic ills of one particular software platform that "understands the importance of developers, developers, developers"? This is precisely why Apple's iPhone is making such inroads and waves into an industry of which they have such little experience. Hitherto the mobile apps scene has been revealed as an absolute mess of bandit-country proportions and this is a big indictment of the existing Big Players on the mobile applications scene, who are reportedly hurrying back to the drawing-board to assess anew the slick, co-ordinated and planned approach to usability and user-interfacing that the iPhone has unleashed upon their cosy fiefdoms like a cluster bomb. Hopefully, with the release of an SDK next year, the more committed and enterprising of these developers in the wild can adopt a more consistent approach to building elegant, cool, simple and reliable apps that echo the trademark Apple approach to making money the proper and considerate way.
I suspect strongly that Apple will have "a ringside seat at the Android show" just like Google has a seat in the Apple boardroom.
Also, just as the 2 soul-mates have common plans regarding the impending world-wide frequency allocation auctions, their plans as regards the future of the mobile apps and gadgets industry will prove to be synergistic and mutually inclusive rather than all-out competitive.
So I say, roll on Android, roll on iPhone SDK!!! 2008 (and beyond) is gearing up to be a very interesting time as regards game-changing disruption that can only benefit the user...
Too true, too true. One point to remember is that SysAdmins, just like any other members of a corporation or Society like lawyers, politicians and criminals (any difference?), can be unethical, self-serving, lazy bastards. Add to this a desire to be praised and needed and a total disdain for proper documentation, and you have a deadly concoction waiting to unleash disaster.
Sadly, this has been my corporate experience in the last few years, preceded by a Golden Age of near zero downtime which as usual was not appreciated owing to its non-eventfulness.
My advice to all progressive corporations is to learn to appreciate when you have good SysAdmin(s), encourage and reward them commensurately before they move on to greener pastures, which exist aplenty for this unique worker. A thorough worker is a perfectionist, one that takes pride in his/her work rather than the kudos received from above them in the food chain, and this general rule applies to SysAdmins as well.
It is systematic genocides of this nature, carried out over several centuries in diverse parts of the world in Mankind's long history, that make the findings of our genealogy so surprisingly skewed...
What's generally unrecognised in the world at large is the VERY REAL fact that several foreign entrepreneurs return from very dicey investment forays into Nigeria with up to 100 times their initial investment! The multitudes of successful freebooters include barely literate working-class type adventurers like laundrymen and gardeners returning home with the wherewithal to buy yachts and luxury homes, and attracting a lot of local attention due to their meteoric rise in lifestyle (which, due to their lowly beginnings, they hardly disguise). They also pass along by word of mouth exaggerated tales of a bottomless pit of largesse for the taking out there... This, rather than simple gullibility and greed, coupled with the no-questions-asked-if-you pay-a-bribe policy of the Nigerian authorities is what serves as an irresistible magnet for the "greedy and stupid people" osgeek refers to. I cannot imagine coming to the USA or Australia with a million dollars and leaving with 100 million without being investigated by the Securities and Exchange Commission, Inland Revenue or similar authority in those countries, but that's contemporary Nigeria for you... There is a personal account from an undercover FBI agent assigned to investigate the scams which actually describes how he could feel himself being slowly drawn into the hope that there really was money at the end of the undertaking!!! The only reason these scams endure is that there is really a lot of dirty money to be made out of a country blessed with the "unaided bounty of nature - Crude Oil" and cursed with institutionalised corruption that allows its wealth to be drained by unscrupulous forces within and without its borders.