As for the whole "but everyone puts so much work into it." argument, let me tell you this. If you love food, and you love farming, it is not work. It is something that you have to do.
Damn greedy farmers.
Who the hell modded the parent "offtopic"?
Does anyone else find it ironic that the most environmentally destructive, oil-selling, war-profiteering president we've ever had is getting credit for a breakthrough in solar power?
My father recently built a house for himself which is completely solar powered... designed with enough juice to run his industrial table saw, among other things. The house is in Vermont, USA , which is not known for its sunny climate (they called it New England for a reason). The really expensive part was not the panels. It was the storage batteries. He has three big panels, each of which cost around $1500, if I remember correctly. The whole system probably cost $22,000. Maybe $4000 was paid for by a grant from the state, but an equal amount went into the inverter that the grant requires to make it compatible with the grid.
I'm not sure of the specs, but in the summer the charge on the batteries rarely gets below 90%... even when they were running all the tools to build the place (saws, air compressors, etc).
In the states, power companies are required to buy any electricity that you want to sell them. So if you are generating electricity, your electric meter basically runs backwards, and the electric grid acts as your storage system. My father isn't connected to the grid, though. In this case, his house is so far from the grid that it would have cost him almost as much to get connected as it did use solar.
If you're a musician or band trying to build a grassroots audience, Myspace has become almost indespensible. Thank god the bass-player actually likes myspace, and is willing to maintain the band's account. Thanks to him, we actually managed to attract an audience the first time we played in towns like Boston or NYC, away from our own turf. I'm guessing that FakeSpace is actually geared towards spammy-marketers, not insecure teenagers. If you were marketing to superficial people, the appearance of popularity would make a big difference.
It is possible to buy CD's that have nothing to do with the RIAA. Nevermind that what they are selling is usually crap anyway.
Lots of independent music: www.cdbaby.com.
LOL-- maybe you're right. It's probably just in my memory that NG seems good. I watched most of it on video, taped off of tv with ads edited out by my girlfriend's mom, when I was in college. It seemed good at the time, but then again, smoking a spliff before breakfast seemed like a good idea at the time, too, back then.
Like most science fiction, I thought this show and the movie which spawned it should have been great-- but weren't. Not nearly.
Battlestar Galactica: excellent. Serenity: excellent. Startrek NG, excellent....but Stargate? Well, ok, I'll give it another try. There is such a dearth of good sci-fi out there that the thought of 10 seasons of a good show out there for me to watch is kind of thrilling. Netflix, here I come.
But if you are filling me with false hope, I will never forgive you.
What? you must be kidding. Most farmers cant even make ends meet without subsidies. Dairy farmers around here live in run-down old farm houses, if they're lucky. More likely its a tiny ranch-style house. They live surrounded by and covered in mud and cow dung. When I drive by some of these farms, I think to myself "damn, I'm glad I don't do that for a living".
"Wealthy farmers"? that's crazy talk.
I'm a professional jazz piano player, teacher, and composer. A MIDI sequencer like Garageband, Cubase, or Logic really comes in handy once you learn to use it (and you no longer have to spend your practice time figuring it out). In the study of Afro-Cuban music it is necessary not only to learn syncopated rhythmic parts, but to fit them together with other equally syncopated parts in an ensemble setting. Having the sequencer play one of those parts while I practice is incredibly helpful. My laptop has almost replaced my metronome.
Similarly, before I bring a difficult new tune to my quartet for rehearsal, I often put a skeletal version of the bass and drums into Logic so I can practice it beforehand and work out any kinks. And if I've got players on the gig who don't read so well, I'll send them a midi file ahead of time.
I've also got about 1G of fakebooks in PDF on my laptop, which sits nicely on my baby grand.
Slashdot Mirror
As for the whole "but everyone puts so much work into it." argument, let me tell you this. If you love food, and you love farming, it is not work. It is something that you have to do. Damn greedy farmers. Who the hell modded the parent "offtopic"?
Does anyone else find it ironic that the most environmentally destructive, oil-selling, war-profiteering president we've ever had is getting credit for a breakthrough in solar power?
My father recently built a house for himself which is completely solar powered... designed with enough juice to run his industrial table saw, among other things. The house is in Vermont, USA , which is not known for its sunny climate (they called it New England for a reason). The really expensive part was not the panels. It was the storage batteries. He has three big panels, each of which cost around $1500, if I remember correctly. The whole system probably cost $22,000. Maybe $4000 was paid for by a grant from the state, but an equal amount went into the inverter that the grant requires to make it compatible with the grid. I'm not sure of the specs, but in the summer the charge on the batteries rarely gets below 90%... even when they were running all the tools to build the place (saws, air compressors, etc). In the states, power companies are required to buy any electricity that you want to sell them. So if you are generating electricity, your electric meter basically runs backwards, and the electric grid acts as your storage system. My father isn't connected to the grid, though. In this case, his house is so far from the grid that it would have cost him almost as much to get connected as it did use solar.
If you're a musician or band trying to build a grassroots audience, Myspace has become almost indespensible. Thank god the bass-player actually likes myspace, and is willing to maintain the band's account. Thanks to him, we actually managed to attract an audience the first time we played in towns like Boston or NYC, away from our own turf. I'm guessing that FakeSpace is actually geared towards spammy-marketers, not insecure teenagers. If you were marketing to superficial people, the appearance of popularity would make a big difference.
It is possible to buy CD's that have nothing to do with the RIAA. Nevermind that what they are selling is usually crap anyway. Lots of independent music: www.cdbaby.com.
LOL-- maybe you're right. It's probably just in my memory that NG seems good. I watched most of it on video, taped off of tv with ads edited out by my girlfriend's mom, when I was in college. It seemed good at the time, but then again, smoking a spliff before breakfast seemed like a good idea at the time, too, back then.
That would be wonderful. unfortunately, Fox won't release the rights to Firefly.
Like most science fiction, I thought this show and the movie which spawned it should have been great-- but weren't. Not nearly. Battlestar Galactica: excellent. Serenity: excellent. Startrek NG, excellent. ...but Stargate? Well, ok, I'll give it another try. There is such a dearth of good sci-fi out there that the thought of 10 seasons of a good show out there for me to watch is kind of thrilling. Netflix, here I come.
But if you are filling me with false hope, I will never forgive you.
What, me evolve?
What? you must be kidding. Most farmers cant even make ends meet without subsidies. Dairy farmers around here live in run-down old farm houses, if they're lucky. More likely its a tiny ranch-style house. They live surrounded by and covered in mud and cow dung. When I drive by some of these farms, I think to myself "damn, I'm glad I don't do that for a living". "Wealthy farmers"? that's crazy talk.
Awww, pooor, poooor Madonna... Yeah, right. A Madonna torrent sounds like a waste of bandwidth to me.
I'm a professional jazz piano player, teacher, and composer. A MIDI sequencer like Garageband, Cubase, or Logic really comes in handy once you learn to use it (and you no longer have to spend your practice time figuring it out). In the study of Afro-Cuban music it is necessary not only to learn syncopated rhythmic parts, but to fit them together with other equally syncopated parts in an ensemble setting. Having the sequencer play one of those parts while I practice is incredibly helpful. My laptop has almost replaced my metronome. Similarly, before I bring a difficult new tune to my quartet for rehearsal, I often put a skeletal version of the bass and drums into Logic so I can practice it beforehand and work out any kinks. And if I've got players on the gig who don't read so well, I'll send them a midi file ahead of time. I've also got about 1G of fakebooks in PDF on my laptop, which sits nicely on my baby grand.