Follow Slashdot stories on Twitter

 



Forgot your password?
typodupeerror
×

Comment Re:Renewable turtles all the way down (Score 1) 580

On the contrary, this is great for the other forms of renewable energy, since it allows mining (and on an unrelated topic, farming) to be powered from renewable energy. Manufacturing is powered by electricity, which can come from anywhere.

While it might seem strange to convert energy into liquid gas, natural sources of gas are limited, and will eventually run out. Solar is effectively unlimited. Even nuclear is effectively unlimited. (By "effectively" I mean they're technically limited, but there is literally billions of years of energy available from those sources.)

Comment Re:Running uphill to coast downhill (Score 1) 580

Yes, this does sound like snake oil from a thermodynamic point of view.

This isn't snake oil, this is oil oil. This is exactly what those green plants outside your window do. In fact, this is precisely what the green in those plants do -- turn water, CO2 and sunlight into sugar. Ever eat an apple? That sweet flavor is from the sugars in the apple, which were made for you from "thin air" by that very apple tree.

Your body is basically a fuel cell, combining sugar and oxygen and converting the released energy into chemicals your body can use. The waste product is the original CO2 and water.

BTW what we know as oil is the result of hundreds of millions of years of dead plants, squeezed and cooked by the earth for hundreds of millions more. So even oil is ultimately a form of solar power. It took millions of years to create but we're using it up in hundreds, so it's not sustainable.

Comment Re:it would work as intended. more resources for f (Score 1) 577

Because the writer is smart enough to shop the script around to different publishers, as well as investigate self-publish options. The writer will take the first best deal that comes along.

As for why publish new stuff at all, that's a general problem not related to copyright. If customers want new stuff, then the publisher will have no choice but to provide. And if they want old stuff, then writers have a marketing problem.

Comment Re:it would work as intended. more resources for f (Score 1) 577

No-one else will make a deal with Ms Moss under better terms for book 5 because they can't do the group deal for books 2-4. I can negotiate Ms Moss down to almost nothing. I can keep printing book 1 and pay her nothing.

Then how do you propose to get her to write book 5? After the success of books 1-4, shes going to demand alot of money, and indeed you as a publisher will make alot of money off of her established name.

If you don't pay up, she won't write. And if she doesn't write, the value of books 3 and 4, which are under copyright, will fall.

What'll likely happen is the price of book 5 will be higher than the other books. But that's OK, there's no reason all books need to be the same price.

Comment Re:Cheap compared to (Score 1) 173

For someone who wants a smartphone as an upgrade from the combination of a dumbphone and PDA but isn't yet ready to pay $336 more per year, what U.S. carrier do you recommend? T-Mobile?

You already have it. Data plans are expensive, and there's no way around it. Price are coming down, but if you want cell data, you'll have to pay. If you don't want to pay, then stick with WiFi.

Slashdot Top Deals

Old programmers never die, they just hit account block limit.

Working...