Plus the smell of a musty basement and mom screaming down the stairs that dinner is ready.

That sounds sound. It is kind of how I remember it as well though I (sadly) didn't pay much attention to the legal cases back then. I was unconcerned about things like First Sale and pretty ignorant of even copyright. My how the times change.

How is it different? They're an idiot to start with. Anyone who wasn't an idiot would have stopped after breaking a SINGLE bolt, not kept going to break three of them. The unit of measurement isn't going to matter much in that case.

Err, have you thought about this?

What is the speed in kp/h when the speed limit is 55mph? Are you going to include the decimal points and, if so, how far out? If not then which speed is the correct speed? The two speeds aren't the same unless you include decimal points and strange numbers like 92.89 kp/h which is going to be less confusing how?

2+2=4

2 cups = pint
2 pints = quart
4 quarts = gallon

That's the easy one I have memorized.

Also they screen print highway signage on demand, there are usually a few (up to a half dozen or so) DOT employees doing it in one of their offices or warehouses. They're not layered on as the poster implied above. It's a thick paint so it may look like that up close but they're not stickers. The paint is that way because it is thick paint containing glass or another reflective substance. (I've been inside a few of the different paint shops in different states oddly enough, we'll just say that it was a business interest and leave it at that. I suppose there may be a state or two that does it differently though.) An exception would be the triangle highway signs that are temporary, those are often just changed with stickers or they'll use a template and paint on a new number as needed, those change more frequently and aren't meant to be permanent. As highways and roads are long drawn out processes with lots of planning and lots of time it only takes a few employees to make all of the signs and they have plenty of time to make them. There is also a How Its Made episode showing the process, well, it could be the other show that's just like it but I've forgotten its name.

When you see the sign that says 3.5 miles to the next exit you can bet that it is 3.5 miles to the next exit or VERY close to it. If you think that it is off and have "measured it in your car" then it is likely your car, you, or someone has moved the sign from its original spot.

Hmm...

By their definition a conservative wants things to stay the same and a liberal wants change.

Which, as an aside, has always made me wonder what a liberal becomes once they've finally achieved their goals.

That's funny. Also, don't forget drugs. Drugs have been teaching our kids the metric scale for quite some time.

Unfortunately, in America, those without digital dashboards have the k/ph text in a much smaller font and on a much smaller scale making precision nearly impossible or, at best, difficult. Mandating the reverse would be a good idea but the number of old cars on the road means that's still a problem. It isn't an insurmountable problem but a problem nonetheless. I still, of course, support a complete switch to metric and (oddly enough, I am usually very opposed to any additional legislation with few exceptions, this being one of them) wouldn't mind it being federally mandated.

A part of me thinks it should be mandated just so I can hear the various sides howl like banshees at each other. Did I mention that I'm easily amused? My countrymen are straight up retarded for the most part and, unfortunately, that is bipartisan.

Anyhow, I think the simplest means of advocating the metric unit of measurement is this:

Using just your head, what is 16.2% of a meter?
Using just your head, what is 16.2% of a yard?

Simpler means fewer chances to have errors. As an American I can say, with complete certainty, that we need simplicity here.

Wasn't there some sort of lawsuit in the works (I have no idea of its success, failure, or whatnot) that had the goal of suing to be able to resell used eBooks? I could have sworn there was an article on Slashdot a number of years ago concerning this. I am not sure but I think the person/people were attempting to use the First Sale Doctrine as a way to ensure that they could sell their "used" digital versions after they were done with them just like you can sell your dead tree copies of books?

With the bullshit about them "licensing" the content I didn't think they had much of a chance but I seem to recall this having popped up on my radar in the past. Hmm... A search of Slashdot (I'm not so sure that the search does a good job) doesn't show anything though so it may just be a figment of my imagination.

Interesting thoughts but they made me think... I think the price of media has gone down, not up, when adjusted for inflation.

VHS cassettes used to be anywhere from $60 to $120. Amazing, I know. These days it is $10 for a DVD.

CD prices have remained much the same, they appear to have gone down a bit actually, which definitely means a lower price when it's adjusted for inflation.

Books have gone up a bit more than inflation but part of that is likely due to the increased cost of paper. Paper has gotten more expensive, we're now expecting mills and timber harvesting operations to be good stewards of the environment which adds significant costs. (I dare say the price is worth it.)

eBooks are what the market can bear or is willing to pay (except in conditions of collusion, like this suit points out) and I think that, from a publisher's view, they are selling you a license to the content or a physical copy of the content. The content, for the most part, is the same - they're selling you an experience of reading the content. Thus, to them (I'm guessing here - I'm not one of them), the idea is the same and thus the price should be the same. Their goal is price maximization and profit, they'll sell it at whatever they want to sell it at. (What that leads to is a whole other subject but it is the way things are.)

In all of these cases they're really not selling you anything except a distribution platform (a DVD, a CD, or a dead tree printed book) but, rather, they're licensing it to you. You own the physical media but your rights to the content within are limited so to them (again, I'm guessing - I am not one of them) it is pretty much the same thing regardless.

Don't get me wrong, I pretty much agree with you on everything except that the price is actually lower than it used to be in many areas. Books are an exception though I still see some priced at around $5.00 (they were much cheaper when I was a wee lad by the way). I can only imagine that's because the price of paper has increased (and it has, see the increase in printer paper pricing for example).

Actually, let me be more specific, see the increase in printer paper pricing for printer paper that is made in the United States. A lot of the paper comes from other countries that do not have the environmental laws that we have. (The debate over the value of such laws is another topic entirely, I'm personally in favor of them and consider the price increase to be worth it.)

Like I said, I agree with you. It is only logical that the price for digitally delivered material to be less than the physical copies of that same material. There are very few benefits to getting a digital copy in my experiences though there have been some nice technical manuals that included links to online content that made a difference.

However, to them, I see little incentive to price them differently. Why should they? You're going to pay so they may as well make a greater percentage of profits on the digital forms. I suppose they have bean counters who also factor in the cost of the increased personnel to maintain the digital infrastructure, the cost of servers, the cost of power, the initial setup costs to also offer digital forms, and things like that. I doubt that, spread over a bunch of purchases, it adds up to a great deal more but that too must be considered and, still, they have no incentive to offer lower prices.

I'm not saying that what they're doing is right but it is what I'd expect a business to do these days. If they have something you want then they're likely to price it at a point where it maximizes profit while still not dissuading MAJORITY of people from making the purchase. I guess that's kind of the point of businesses today. They don't really look towards long term profit or the good of society (a healthy society is more likely to be able to support that business for longer but they seem to ignore that part) these days. They seem to be all about maximizing quarterly profits at the expense of good will or good stewardship of the business' interests as a whole. I can't really think of any businesses that are notable in those regards, it is shameful really. Even outside of the businesses related to media, can you think of any business that's actually a good steward of their business' interests, society, and the planet? I really can't.

So, this is what we have. We can bitch about it. We can refuse to buy, non-consumers aren't good for business. However, we're in the minority. The entire first world and an increasing portion of the third world countries are all based on consumerism. Consumption for consumption sake and all that. Bitching about it doesn't do much good and, as a minority, we have little impact. For every Wal*Mart I boycott there are a dozen other people who are willing to shop there simply because they have lower prices. They're not dumb, they know that shopping at Wal*Mart lowers our own GDP and is damaging to American businesses. They do it because they're greedy. Well, okay, perhaps they are dumb...

This, obviously, goes beyond eBooks at this point in the conversation. It is these same attitudes and practices that are a standard.

My question is this: What are we going to do about it? It is obvious that we aren't happy with it. What rational, effective, and potentially implemented plans do you (or I, or anyone) have to make the changes that need to be made? What changes actually need to be made? Who's going to be the standard bearer? Who's going to present a plan that doesn't result in a world oriented to the lowest common denominator or results in a decreased standard of living?

Anyhow... We can always just get drunk and try to forget about it. Alcohol is still fairly cheap. There's a site that's similar to your beloved allofmp3.com that you may be interested in. See: http://www.emusic.com/ I haven't used it in a long time but I had an account there and was pretty happy with it back then. I believe that installing JetAudio will also offer you some sort of special deal where you get a bunch of free music? I'm not sure if that offer is still valid or not and I lack the energy and willpower to uninstall it, reinstall it, and report back my findings.As I recall they had decent pricing and a fairly decent selection. There are likely a few other deals that can be found for the site if it is something you're interested in.

I wish you the best of luck and I'm sort of sorry for the long-winded narrative. I did try to mostly stay on topic though. ;)

Colluding to... "Together" is redundant. See? I'm Mr. Big Helper today. I'm hoping for a gold star to put on the refrigerator.

That got a chuckle out of me. Thanks. I needed that.

I am, obviously, aware that this tragic event took place in the UK but, it seems, that the US led the UK to get involved so where the US goes I'd not be too surprised to see the UK follow. Following our lead hasn't been their best choice (in my humble opinion) but, well, nobody ever listens to a KGIII and the facts remain what they are. As much as we might like it to be different, that's the way it is.

Anyhow, as an interesting aside, though it is tangentially related... It seems that Obama is looking for a repeal of AUMF (Authorization to Use Military Force, the "war on terror") which is a good thing. This is what Wikipedia has to say on the subject:

In a recent speech he had this to say:

I dare say that it's an excellent thing. Unfortunately I don't have much hope for that being repealed at this time and I'm also skeptical. Here's an interesting link concerning the announcement and is where the above quote is from:

http://www.policymic.com/articles/44327/aumf-repeal-obama-once-again-stands-up-for-democracy

Basically, I see there being a snowball's chance in hell of this being repealed at this time. It just doesn't seem likely. The citizenry of the United States seems to be hoping for an end to the war on terror. It seems that they're tired of having their friends and family being sent home in body bags. True, there aren't a whole lot of deaths these days but it really does appear that people are tired of the war on terror and they're tired of funding it.

Unfortunately, here's my issue, I don't think there's a very high chance of the AUMF being repealed. The politicians haven't actually passed a single law that I think the majority of citizens are happy with. I really can't think of a single thing to come out of this administration that pleases the majority of the populace. I don't really think the legislative branch is in touch with, or cares about, the citizenry that they're elected to represent.

I don't blame the politicians, I don't blame them at all. They're doing what they want to do. I blame the people who elected them. I hold my friends, my family, my neighbors, those who voted, and especially those who didn't vote accountable for the representation (or lack of representation) that we have. We've turned it into a sport where the sole purposes are scoring points of harm against one another, inciting anger, distraction from piss poor legislation being enacted, and a cash grab. We have nobody to blame but ourselves...

So, I suspect that Obama is a smart man. He certainly appears to be very smart and he appears to be a great politician. Just so you know, being a great politician doesn't mean that they're a good person or that they're interested in the well-being of the populace in my opinion. I suspect that he is aware that a repeal of the AUMF is unlikely and that he's simply paying lip service to it - while knowing, full well, that there will be no changes. He knows that there are over 100 people who have been cleared to leave Gitmo. He knows that only 5 or so have been released in the past few years. He's aware that there isn't much motivation in the legislative body to change the status quo.

So, why not make claims that he's interested in changing things? He's been making that claim since he first went onto the campaign trail all those years ago and yet there's been little change.

However, we can hope... We can hope that the motivation is there. We can hope that the Right Wing politicians and pundits don't rile up the masses. We can hope that the Age of Fear has been ridden to conclusion. We can hope that things will change, AUMF will be repealed, and that Gitmo will be emptied. I wouldn't hold my breath though.

I say this because, as I mentioned earlier in this post, where the US goes the UK seems to follow in these regards. If, by some chance, AUMF is repealed and the war on terror is brought to a close then perhaps the UK will follow. Perhaps they too will see the light and move along. We, as a society, have invested far too many resources on this campaign and it is time to change for that reason if for no other reason. Even if we ignore the morality, the lack of success, the negative consequences, and the many lives lost we can all pretty much agree that we simply lack the resources to continue spending like drunken sailors.

Maybe, just maybe, the US will lead, the UK will follow, and this silliness will be brought to a close sometime soon. I don't have a great deal of belief that things will change but I do have a great deal of hope that it will. Sorry for rambling/ranting... Sorry for the novella... I just had to get it off my chest I suppose, it needed to be put out there.

Thank you for that. You've given me an idea which will surely make my sibling happy. Much appreciated. I knew the resources were there for this sort of thing, I knew the costs were fairly trivial for my intents, and I know that she'll appreciate it. However, I hadn't thought of it. She's recently authored a novel, published it online, had some raving reviews and some 4000 or so "likes" where she published it. I'll have someone design a cover (or hack away at it until I manage something acceptable) and I'll get her a handful of copies of her book in paperback format.

Thank you for linking that which gave me the idea to do this. I, and I'm sure she, appreciate it a great deal though it may not have been your intent.

I'd also like to get the book edited but the book would be a surprise. I'm not sure that I'd want to get it edited behind her back, without her input, or without her knowledge. That may be going too far and may not be appreciated as much and could be seen as tampering with her art as she'd have no input. What I'll probably end up doing is getting a small order of paperbacks printed up in the current format and then, when I gift them to her, present her with a coupon, voucher, or log-in credentials to a prepaid account with an online editor. When they've resolved that and settled on a final version I can just get another small order printed up that she can share with friends and family. Perhaps the initial order will be just a single copy so that she can actually hold it in paperback form - it's inexpensive and all that but it is still something that she'd enjoy. Spending less on the initial order would mean I could spend more on the fully edited copy and get her more copies of her work.

So, yeah, thank you. You're probably thinking that it isn't much of a gift (well, the editing is likely to be expensive) but it is really a "thought that counts" type of situation where it really is the thought that counts. It is something that will make her immensely pleased and will be the highlight of her year (or perhaps longer, knowing her) and will be seen as something quite valuable to her. I realize that your intent wasn't this but I'm pleased and grateful that your link triggered the thought and the results should be quite emotional.

It is also smaller than my gift to her last year. It will require less food though I suspect this one will cost me more and will cost her less. Last year I bought her an Arabian horse. It was on sale and she'd wanted an Arabian since she was a child. It had been a lifelong dream for her so it was rewarding to be able to fulfill that dream for her. Given her love for books I also suspect that the books will last longer than the horse will although I don't actually know anything about the longevity of horses.

And so, thanks again. Butterflies flapping wings causing hurricanes and all that. Much appreciated and surely much appreciated by her.

http://dvagency.com/agents/

Chuck Verrill is his Literary Agent's name and that's his firm. Contact information is on the site. You can submit your recommendations to Stephen King through his agent.

Why? I was really bored and wanted to see how complicated it was to find that information. It wasn't all that difficult really. I'd say that it took maybe five minutes to find and confirm it through multiple sources (in case you're curious). I figured, as well, that if I was going to go through the effort that I should probably share it with you seeing as you indicated a willingness to give your suggestions to him. He's a nice enough fellow, King - not his agent (I've never met his agent), and genuinely easy to talk to. We've met a half dozen times or so and he frequented a writer's group that I used to attend at the Bangor Public Library.