I am officially amused...
We all know Google Earth... A lovely little system of maps, and satellite images, and the combination thereof... It can be fun to play with when you're bored... I'm sure it has tremendous commercial possibilities too...
What does it take to compete with the Google boys?... The country of France... Yes, the country... Not some industrious French corporation... I mean, are there any really?... They only work 35 hours a week... I'd be long out of business if I had to follow the work rules in France... Take a look at this semi-summery...
- there is a statutory requirement for an interrupted period of one day's rest per week, which in principle should be on a Sunday;
- an employee must have, in principle, a minimum of 11 hours' consecutive rest per day;
- there is in principle a limit of 48 hours per week, and even in exceptional circumstances, working time may not exceed 60 hours per week. Working time may not exceed an average of 44 hours per week for a period of 12 consecutive weeks.
Yea... I'm sure my clients would love me calling them up and explaining that we can't deliver because we have breached the number of hours that we're allowed to work... 11 hours off in a day is a pipe dream... We're lucky to get 4 every night for a week or more at times...
But I digress... Heavily...
The french attempt at competition is at http://www.geoportail.fr...
I refuse to give them a real link...
There should be a way to punish poor planners... I mean something beyond just running up the bill... Hell I don't mind changes as a show evolves... That's just the way things go... I have one client who can manage to send me multiple emails with multiple major changes in the 5 minutes between when my email program checks for new messages...
Their recent record was 3 emails...
#1 - Date and location change
#2 - Complete set re-design due to above...
#3 - Date and time change...
They almost got #4 in, but apparently missed by a half minute or so...
#4 - Set modifications due to #3
Folks, this isn't like changing you mind while standing in the checkout line... I mean money had changed hands already for the venues, materials were already en route, and labor was booked... Sure, we added a "dumb and stupid" charge on the bill (no we did not call it that) but there really should be something else... I mean you know something interesting... Like I don't know, a couple cases of good beer... Or a bunch of good steaks for grilling... I know that I can get that with the additional fee, but it would make my crew feel better about things... Stagehands will do anything as long as they feel they are appreciated... Start to abuse that and you'll never get a thing done...
Ugh...