Rather_Notsay’s Techdirt Profile

On the post: Will Bloom Energy Live Up To The Hype?

Rather_Notsay ( profile ), 26 Feb, 2010 @ 07:49am

Obvious test of viability

Peak loads are big expenses to power companies. They get paid the same rate 24 hours a day, but pay more to run stations that can be turned off and on easily.

If this device were really more efficient at turning natural gas into electricity than conventional technologies (and I mean total efficiency, including cost of capital and maintenance) a power company would buy a boat load of them to use as a peak load generating station.

When I see that happen without external coercion, I'll know that it's a good idea.

On the post: Who's Behind The False Rumors That Facebook Might Start Charging?

Rather_Notsay ( profile ), 14 Jan, 2010 @ 08:13am

Entitlement Mentality Reigns

Another example of the entitlement mentality that every thing on the internet ought to be free. No rational reason, it just should be. And if it's not, we're going to send and e-mail!

Maybe Facebook should charge for forming protest groups. That's creating a reason to pay.

On the post: Are IT Failures Costing $6.2 Trillion Per Year?

Rather_Notsay ( profile ), 12 Jan, 2010 @ 03:48pm

Just 1%

I'm entering the IT management business. If my firm can just reduce that by 1%, that's $62 billion saved. Every year. If I can get businesses to pay me 10% of that, that's $6.2 billion a year for me.

I'm submitted a patent on that business method, so don't try.

On the post: Tomorrow Is National Book Burning Day; Thank Your Friendly Entertainment Industry Lobbyists

Rather_Notsay ( profile ), 02 Jan, 2010 @ 08:00pm

Here's an amusing case, from the standard bearer of copyright maximalists, Disney. They're remaking "Alice in Wonderland". Amusing, of course, that they made AiW in 1951, a mere 53 years after the death of the author. They wouldn't have been able to do that under current copyright law. This time they're creating a derivative story based on the same characters. OR do they own them now? They seem to think they own Winnie the Pooh.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1014759/

On the post: Eddie Vedder Sued For Changing Lyrics On A Song

Rather_Notsay ( profile ), 01 Jan, 2010 @ 08:04am

"It would be against the law"

I've heard directors of community theaters saying "it would be against the law ..." if they were to take the profanity/obscenity/senseless violence/you name it out of the show. As if the FBI would show up and arrest the actor on the spot if he failed to say ******* on cue. I suppose he could be incarcerated for flubbing the line as well.

I doubt that's correct, but it's commonly believed.

And while we're on the subject

East bound and down
Loaded up and trucking
We're gonna do
what they say can't be done

We got it on with a goat

On the post: Post TSA's New Security Rules And Get A Visit And Subpoena From Homeland Security

Rather_Notsay ( profile ), 30 Dec, 2009 @ 12:08pm

Pat down would have been worthless, of course

A pat down would have been worthless in the case in question, unless it included detailed probing of the genital area. The guy was wearing explosive underwear. He could have carried that much explosive in his rectum, so I guess the next thing the security at any price crowd will be expecting us to endure is full body cavity searches for all.

A more sound approach would be than nobody who has voluntarily gone to Yemen in then past five years gets a visa.

But getting back to the original point, there's a vast difference between repeating what's in a widely distributed memo and compromising national security information. In the first place, "aviation security" is not "national security". Hijacking an airplane, even if you kill everybody on board, is not a threat to then nation. TSA and their "security at any price" crowd likes to pretend that it is, but it is not. It's a crime, maybe a big one, but not a threat to the viability of the nation.

TSA is trying to pretend that repeating the contents of a memo that they distributed, and whose effects in any case are discernible to any sufficiently patient observer, is the equivalent of handing over the encryption keys for the UAVs. Such theater makes them feel important, but it's more than a little dangerous to let them get away with the charade.

On the post: Zynga Threatens Mafia Wars Auto Play Script Over Copyright Violations…

Rather_Notsay ( profile ), 28 Dec, 2009 @ 02:49pm

Another good reason to quit

I quit MW a few weeks ago, for all the reasons that existed then. This helps validate my decision.

Most important, though, is the one alluded to in comment #1 above: it's just not that much fun. It's a lot of repetitive clicks in order to gain a few experience points so you can gain a level. Gaining a level occasionally gives you different things to repetitively click on. Whee! It's something a very mindless bot can do quite well, which saves the well worn part of my right index finger. And if a bot can do it, why bother at all?

Unless endlessly spamming your real friends with endless Mafia Wars news is your idea of great social interaction.

On the post: Journalist Fired After Column That Was Critical Of Major Advertisers

Rather_Notsay ( profile ), 17 Dec, 2009 @ 04:49am

Utopia's coming

Nn Masnick's perfect world where 100% of a news organization's revenue comes from advertisers (see e.g. the Evening Standard article) where nobody even knows who the readers are because it's all anonymous and free, is this sort of thing going to be more or less common?

On the post: US Visa Process Making It Even More Difficult For Foreign Musicians To Tour Here

Rather_Notsay ( profile ), 01 Dec, 2009 @ 07:01pm

If you're in, you're in

Since you have to be notable to have an article in Wikipedia, if you have one that's prima facie evidence that you're popular.

On the post: Australian Patent Lawyers Claim Patenting Genes Is Necessary For Biomedical Research

Rather_Notsay ( profile ), 17 Nov, 2009 @ 07:43pm

Some of each

Some gene patents are for creating something new, like glyphosate resistance implanted in soybeans.

Some are just for sequencing something that was already there, then claiming that they made an invention because they just invented a way to identify what they just found.

Although the first has lead to the Monsanto near-monopoly on seeds, it at least in principle is consistent with the spirit of the patent laws. The second is a crockery of feces, and currently under review.

To the point, the Australian lawyers might have a point. If other countries allow gene patents of the second kind but
Australia doesn't, it makes Australia a not very good place to put venture capital. Lowest standard of decency always wins.

On the post: American Airlines Fires Designer Who Reached Out To Disgruntled Customer

Rather_Notsay ( profile ), 16 Nov, 2009 @ 03:17pm

Pretty much my experience with AA

AA has to be the most customer clueless organization in the air. (OK, not counting United.) Pretty much every experience I have with them is unpleasant because they don't do even the simplest things right, like getting people through lines efficiently.

Northwest, on the other hand, gets the point made in the article, that even when things go bad a good response can make it better. I've been delayed by NWA a few times, and it's always been followed with a letter of apology and some bonus flier miles. I love them, even to the point of writing back and telling them so. Too bad they've been absorbed by Delta, which used to be good but has deteriorated badly over the last ten years or so.

On the post: Running The Clock Backwards To Judge Technological Progress

Rather_Notsay ( profile ), 15 Nov, 2009 @ 11:20am

Re: Mostly Better

In particular, the internet allows a much faster flow of information. This also allows for a much faster flow of stupid. For example, the email about Mars / Earth close approach.

That is a good thing. When you see it on the internet once, and it turns out to be B.S., you're a whole lot less likely to believe it the next time. And you're a lot less likely to believe any other B.S. the next time. It's free lesson in critical thinking for the entire world.

I'm old enough to remember the Jupiter effect. There have probably been plenty of other ends of the world since then. Anybody has been through any of them will have no problem laughing off 2012.

On the post: Feds Demand Over Half A Million Dollars To Fulfill A Freedom Of Information Act Request

Rather_Notsay ( profile ), 12 Nov, 2009 @ 04:32pm

Re: Re: Re: Re:

Like we say around my office: If we can't add value, we can at least add cost.

On the post: Buddhist Leader Says Playing Video Games Lets Out Aggression; Better Method Than Meditation

Rather_Notsay ( profile ), 23 Sep, 2009 @ 06:29am

Does this mean that video games can now claim to be exercise of religion, which means that Congress can't mess with it?

"First Church of GTA. Services nightly, 9-3. Mountain Dew midnight communion."

On the post: EFF Tracking Changes To Major Company Terms Of Service

Rather_Notsay ( profile ), 07 Jun, 2009 @ 12:52am

Did you actually TRY the "view changes"?

The "view changes" link still has the full text of both the old and the new. The changes are highlighted, but still have to be hunted for.

Shining example, Facebook change #9. Only change is the address, all the way at the bottom.

I don't want to complain too much, it's still a good thing. It's just that my interpretation of "view changes" is "only show me the changes."

On the post: British Cops Creating Nationwide License-Plate Surveillance System

Rather_Notsay ( profile ), 23 May, 2009 @ 07:29am

Summary execution

Any public official who uses the "If you're clean, why do you care?" argument should be summarily executed. This is a place where violent left wing extremists and violent right wing extremists should be able to come together with ordinary citizens in serving a common noble cause.

On the post: Tech Policy Debate: Do We Want Enlightened Leadership… Or A Hands Off Policy?

Rather_Notsay ( profile ), 16 May, 2009 @ 02:32pm

Re:

Jake make a really good point. When there was something resembling anti-trust law, many companies would exist, competing by a variety of services. It's now far more profitable for them to just buy each other out, then the few monstrosities that are left can tacitly decline to compete with each other. Note the cellular phone market.

The government doesn't need to get itself involved in running the show, but there is value in ensuring that the operators aren't in collusion.

On the post: El Efecto Streisand As Guatemala Arrests Twitterer

Rather_Notsay ( profile ), 15 May, 2009 @ 02:18pm

Thanks

I didn't know Guatemala was so corrupt. Thanks for posting.

On the post: Computer Repairman Steals Hard Drive, Tries To Charge Company For 'Retrieving' Data

Rather_Notsay ( profile ), 15 May, 2009 @ 07:33am

Idiot

When I pull this scam I put a blank hard drive in the machine. That way they think the drive just failed. I pick up the computer, take to my shop, swap the drives out, and bring it back four days later. These data recoveries take time. That's why they're so expensive. It also helps to erase and corrupt a few files to make the whole thing more credible.

On the post: WSJ To Try Micropayments: What A Bad Idea

Rather_Notsay ( profile ), 11 May, 2009 @ 07:54pm

Re: Re: Re: Re: Need a mechanism

The content itself does hold some value, yes, but that content can be obtained many places on the internet for free

How does it get onto the internet for free? Does the news fairy provide it? Do government agencies and corporations write it up and hand it over? Actually, the answer to the latter question is, "yes", they do write up a lot of self-serving fluff. If you want to find out what's really going on somebody has to twist some arms. I would rather have that guy (and his editor) at least a little beholden to me, rather than being completely at the mercy of some advertiser.

All this valuable content gets put on the internet for free due to an accident of history. During the internet bubble there was a fantastic tsunami of capital thrown at internet ventures, which subsidized the production of all sorts of things. To get attention amidst all the noise people gave away things that it didn't make sense to give away. Remember when NetZero really cost $0? That has created unreasonable expectations for free content. The actual reporting organizations are in a bind because they've been more or less forced to make their product available for free, even though they know it's ultimately going to kill them. That's going to stop someday. Here are some scenarios. 1) They become purely advertiser supported, (although internet advertising has thus far largely been a flop) and a) still somehow maintain some sort of editorial credibility or b) become ventriloquist dummies for PR flacks.

2) Enough of them go out of business that the few who are left have enough market power to demand payment.

3) We stop with our unreasonable expectations that we should get stuff for free and pay for what we want.

(3) would leave us in the healthiest position, but I'm betting on 1b, then 2.

As a friendly reminder: you don't MAKE the news, you just write about it.

Actually, I do make the news, and I don't write about it. It appears that you have somehow erroneously concluded that I'm a shill for the news industry. I'm a mechanical engineer who makes things that actually are newsworthy. What's important here, however, is that I'm a customer of the news industry, one who hopes they can stay in business as some sort of healthy, independent voice. If they are going to do that, someone's wallet is going to have to get lighter. I think we're better off if the people who actually have an interest in getting the news reported (the readers) pay for it, rather than advertisers. The editor needs to be more afraid of us than them.

Distribution in the modern age should be cheap; production is not free. Someone needs to pay the total cost of both. I'd prefer that the people are paying enough of the freight that the corporate flacks don't completely run the show.

But getting back to my original point, a mechanism for making small payments would be a really good thing. I don't know for sure how it would work. Buying by the article sounds kind of ridiculous, but there's real power in big numbers.

Big number * 0 = 0.
Big number * small number = possibly something significant.

The problem we've seen in internet paywalls is that the prices have always been preposterously high. Most have wanted at least as much for the internet subscription as the print one, which is nuts, given that the distribution cost is next to nothing. On the other hand, given current payment methods, five bucks isn't even worth messing with, either for the payer or the recipient. If there was a way that I could pay a penny, or a dime, it would create a world of new opportunities.

On the other hand, maybe they don't even need that. Suppose the news industry bundled things, like 100 major newspapers for $30 a year, $500 for a corporate site license. Everyone would sign up. Maybe the ISPs would include it with the package. That would be recognizing the power of the internet while providing a way for somebody on the other end to get paid directly, rather than relying on largess from third parties.

Whew! I should submit this as a dissertation. Maybe I can get another degree.

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