OK, how’s this for a completely pointless website update?
I’ve put my webcam back up, now that I’m done moving. The room that I’m using for my computer zone, though, is rather dim, so I end up with a weird-looking capture.
Naturally, I’m interested in how many people have gone to my stats page since I put it up. I’ll run a new batch of statistics this weekend, with a more graphically interesting Analog, and see.
current_music: Def Leppard – Pour Some Sugar on Me
Every meeting with his so-called superior is another humiliating kick in the crotch.
Tell me I’m in the Twilight Zone here. Had to go talk to an HR-type today, who almost instantly talked to me like I was 12, totally condescending and basically calling me a liar. I’m a damned Mensa member, and I’m apparently so stupid that I have forgotten something from 2 weeks ago, while this 800-year old bird has a razor-sharp memory? C’mon! Either of us could have been misremembering whether I actually got this magic piece of paper (not remotely unique either). Turns out, I looked in my stack o’ stuff later, and I did not have it, but that’s irrelevant.
She whined to her boss (regional manager type guy), who called me and told me to play nice with others. Um, I just refused to be treated like a child, and now I’m the one with a reputation for a temper. I’m the most calm person anyone has ever met. Fuck me gently with a chainsaw.
Really, the entire thing is a tempest in a teapot and required nobody to be chastised for any reason. BFD. But, now my team leader thinks I’m a troublemaker, and the big boss is sure of it. All before I’ve even received my first paycheck. Lovely.
current_mood: angry
Why do so many people sound so unbelievably pretentious in their weblogs and homepages? Get over yourselves, people.
I suppose that this is all a common failing among the young, and most online folk tend to be youngish (sorry Rill). Stop trying to sound like the second coming of Yeats and just live a normal life.
Of course, that’s just my opinion, but I’m usually right. 🙂
current_mood: self-righteous
OK, that experiment didn’t work. Apparently, if I’m logged in, I see the different views of “People” vs. “Community”, but if I’m not logged in, then the “filter” shows everything. Grrr…
So, to protect innocent eyes (like any of them read my journal), I’ve stopped monitoring the naughty groups. You may now resume your perusal of my friends.
Possible trip to Melbourne this summer (I suppose winter in Oz). Probable trip to Florida in May. Still haven’t produced anything at work of value and they’re paying me. Woohoo!
current_music: 10,000 Maniacs – More Than This
current_mood: tired
I’ve noticed a rather disturbing trend at my new place of employment. There are a few men there who are disregarding proper urinal etiquette. We have 3 in a row, and a few times I’ve entered the restroom soon after another gentleman. He looks at the three possible options, and stops at the center one.
Now, all men know this is inappropriate behavior. For the women in the group, you must, when possible, leave an open urinal between you and any other man. You must not make eye contact, and you shall not speak while peeing. This is the law of the urinal.
current_music: Apache Indian – Chok There
current_mood: annoyed
In order to avoid folks “accidentally” finding something surprising on my Friends page, I’ve changed the style to link to either “people” or “communities”, rather than the all-inclusive “friends”. So, feel free to click on People at work, not much smut there. hehe
Saturday
bq. Sorry if this isn’t 100% coherent. I just realized I’ve got thoughts about the RIAA, Napster and other music-related things spread out across too many sites to follow. Here’s a relatively complete posting of what I think about the whole mess.
Those silly silly people running the music "industry" (like there are factories and stuff?) just can’t figure out how to not blow themselves up. Napster offered them 200 million dollars per year for the next 5 years, if the RIAA would just not try to destroy Napster, and maybe even try to play nice with them.
The RIAA, being the old greybeards they are, couldn’t bring themselves to approve such a scheme, so they’ll probably end up winning the court battle and shutting Napster down. Of course, since Fanning and Co. have a deal with BMG records, they’ll stick around as the front end for ONE record company’s electronic distribution system.
Meanwhile, the other companies in the RIAA are working on their own systems, which they’ll probably screw up royally. Anyone else remember the awesome Personics systems from the 80s? You could go to a record store kiosk, choose your personal favorite songs from the playlist, and have a cassette created with only music you wanted, with a nice laser-printed jacket and labels. The record companies made royalties, and the consumer got a product they truly wanted. Of course, the industry let that system die from lack of attention, and it was too late anyway, with the CD revolution in full swing.
This past week, the RIAA started going after OpenNap servers, which are equivalent to Napster, but without any company to sue. Next, I’m sure they’ll attempt to sue the users of Gnutella, who are individuals operating out of their own homes. This is basically the music companies suing their own customers. I wonder how they justify that business model.
Really should have made that deal with Napster, RIAA. It was the best chance of getting any money at all without suing your own customers. This should be an entertaining year.
Just saw the RIAA representative talking outside the courtroom on CNN. She really sounds petulant. Of course, Napster can stop people from trading songs based on a simple filter. But, you willfully ignorant twit, that doesn’t mean people will not just rename files with funky characters to get around the filters. Here, try this example: Prinse n da rebolushun - Boyz und Girlz.mp3 would slip right by the filtering system, but would still be a pirated song. The latest info says the Napster folks will be using "fingerprinting" technology to check on songs regardless of filename. So, if I rip a song at 192kbps, is that the same fingerprint as someone who ripped it at 64kbps or one of the VBR algorithms?
Of course, the RIAA also claims they had a horrible 39% decline in CD sales last year, but it was actually a 39% decline in CD single sales. Um, who buys CD singles anyhow, especially with the ability to preview individual tracks at CDnow, Amazon, or Tower Records stores? Slashdot had a great story that tore apart the RIAA numbers.
Oh, and Courtney Love, after how record companies screw artists, is suing her record company for the indentured servitude forced on her, as with any other artist. But, she can afford to make noise about it. Cool.
According to this article, many car CD players will refuse to play new copy-protected CDs, as will all "multimedia PC" systems. So, let’s assume I’ve got my big Altec Lansing subwoofer hooked up to my PC, and it’s the only CD player I own (not really, but many of my friends in the army only have their PCs to play CDs on, to save space). Now, I can’t play any new CDs on this machine, because I MIGHT copy them? Well, I can’t even listen to them "wherever I like" so I’m not going to buy them either.
If I put this CD in my new RioVolt MP3/CD player (the only CD player in my car), will it cease to function? Now, I’ve got a portable CD player (RioVolt) that can’t play audio CDs of the new style, I’ve got a home audio system (MPC) that can’t play the new CDs. And, this somehow does NOT infringe on fair use?
I know plenty of college students and soldiers that don’t buy stereos, because they have computers. These happen to be the ages that buy the majority of popular music as well. I imagine the RIAA is not so smart on this one.
OK, here is MY EXPERIENCE with MP3s. I can’t possibly speak for everyone, but this is me. I am 30 years old, I was a soldier for 12 years, and I have been a computer geek since I was 10. I listen to MP3s, mainly from Usenet postings of unreleased albums. If I like the album, I buy the CD.
As an example, when the last "No Doubt" album was released, I was at the store on the first day of issue, so I could buy one. Three weeks earlier, I would never have imagined I would buy it, but it was a damned good set of songs. If I had not sampled it via Usenet, I would not have bought the CD. Seriously.
Another example is Metallica. Except for a track here and there, I’ve never been a huge Metallica fan. I grabbed about 3 or 4 tracks from the S&M album off Usenet, and then bought the double-CD set. Even Metallica has made money from MP3s.
If the RIAA would consider MP3s to be advertising, or radio-like, they may have a chance to make money off them. So far, the digital distribution schemes seem to involve charging as much or more for the privelige of downloading the tracks, rather than going to the store and getting cover art and a jewel case. Personally, I’d be very inclined to use an industry-approved download system, if they guaranteed quality-of-service (not an option with the P2P systems obviously), and if they charged LESS than the physical CD.
As it is now, I tend to listen to music from internet radio stations, check out random tracks from Usenet or Gnutella, and buy CDs from CDNow.
I buy a lot of CDs, and I burn many of them to MP3 format to listen to in my MP3/CD player, so I can have 10 or 12 hours of music on one disc. Makes those cross-country car drives much nicer.
So, don’t paint everyone with the same brush, but realize that at least some of us are really not just out to be thieves. YMMV
After a conversation with an old friend today, I revisited Gnutella. There’s a program called BearShare that acts as a frontend for Gnutella, and allows searches to be performed without the pain of a few months ago. Just played with BearShare tonight, looking for common and obscure tunes, including some George Carlin and Bill Cosby tracks. Great selection, which indicates that all the publicity that CNN et al have given Napster has raised awareness of such things to the point that Gnutella is actually useful finally. They have definitely hit the critical mass needed to be a decent search tool.
Even better, the RIAA can now only sue individuals, cuz there’s no server. So, the record companies are going to take their own customers to court? Hehe
As of the middle of April 2001, many (maybe even most) radio stations that stream their signal on the internet are silent. The AFTRA is demanding 300% more money for the stations’ sending audio outside their broadcast area. I don’t get how that makes sense, and it was obvious to anyone that the only result that such a threat would have is the complete shutdown of those streams, meaning that AFTRA members don’t make any money from them anyhow. I’d think you’d negotiate from a position that seemed at least close to reasonable? More here.
It’s not completely new, but I know not everyone reads and pays attention to the latest news from techno-geek lands like Salon and /. Anyway, there’s a new music distribution format that the RIAA (motto: we’re not an evil entity, but we play one on TV) actually likes for a change: Dataplay.
Basically, the DataPlay disks are 500 megabyte CD-R disks that are downsized to a miniscule 1-inch wide platter. BUT, what the RIAA wants to do with them is to put not 500 megabytes of actual CD-DA audio on them, but 500 megabytes of compressed audio, with most of it encrypted when you buy it. Say you buy the latest Madonna album on DataPlay disks (let’s call them DP for short :)). It may well include the Immaculate Collection on it as well as Like a Virgin. But, you can’t hear those other albums until you pay the label for them. You connect the DP to your computer, and send an electronic funds transfer to Warner Bros. In seconds, your DP has had a few more bytes written to it, and now you can listen to all three of those albums, from a disk the size of a quarter. Pretty neat, in my opinion. Obviously, with compressed music you get some lower sound quality, but not enough to hurt sales. After all, MP3 is amazingly popular, and you can fit about 8 albums in 500 megs with that format.
Here’s the deal, though: chicken and egg. When CDs replaced LPs (don’t complain, the vinyl record is as near dead as makes no difference), they had the benefit of being smaller and better-sounding, with no pops or hisses or crackles. They are also, of course, much more durable than vinyl. Although many don’t take care of their CDs very well, if you remember to put them back in their jewel cases instead of using them like coasters, they should last much longer than vinyl would under normal usage. Where are the players for the DP disks? If you look at the DP site, it seems that all the players are portables, and most are made in Korea (whatever that means).
So, is the rationale here that we would use CDs at home, and then burn our own DPs with 5-6 albums on them for our portable use? The RIAA makes money on the blank DPs, I’m guessing, just as they do on blank DAT tapes (a great format that the RIAA nearly killed 15 years ago). (They must, if the disks are going to cost 5-12 bucks each for blanks. Of course, remember when CD-R disks were that expensive?) Sounds good to the RIAA, and maybe it will even work out ok for consumers, so long as we can burn whatever we want to the DPs and not need permission for each file, etc. I’d hate to be strangled by Windows Media Player (wimp) or the abominable SDMI when I just wanted to take my entire Concrete Blonde collection on one disk when I went for a bike ride. Perhaps this is an idea whose time never quite came, and is long since past?
Keep an eye on the DataPlay format, it may turn out to have better legs than MiniDisc and DCC (anyone besides me remember that one?)
Yet another Osprey crash, again attributed to pilot error. So, either the Marine Corps is putting really stupid pilots in their newest, most high-profile aircraft, or the investigators are full of it. Which seems more likely to you?
I know, it’s shocking, but I’ve actually added a Random Meandering Thought to my site, the first this year.
I guess I’ve not felt the need to add too much to that portion of my site, with LJ embedded in my homepage. 🙂
current_music: Shaggy – Wasn’t Me
So, here’s my thoughts on maturity and sexuality. Anyone who has let their children grow up to be teenagers, let me know if I’m in the right ballpark here.
When kids are little, they don’t understand sex and it is a non-issue to them.
As pre-teens, they know it’s something icky and don’t want to get involved, hiding their eyes during kissing scenes on TV and such.
As pubescents and throughout high school, sex is something they know is supposed to be the biggest deal in the world, but it’s all supposed to be secret knowledge. Anyone trying to be less than 100% reverent of all things regarding nudity and sexuality is automatically icky. Reverting back to being eight years old.
Between (varies by person) 17 and 24, sex is a great toy and one yearns for quantity and variety over quality. Relationships are secondary to physicality.
Around 25 or 30 (some of my friends ain’t there yet), human behavior is realized to be much greater than one particular facet, and then truly adult attitudes form about things in life, to include but not limited to sex and nudity etc.
So, how’s that? Seems to match my observations of people through life, and just a little inspired by the children populating the adult sections of LJ this week…
current_music: Uncle Kracker – Follow Me
current_mood: tired
OK, I try to have a little fun (on a dare from my SO) on the NP community, and some jackass has to spend the greater part of her day harassing me for what she perceives as my physical defects. Why join a group that you think is (in her creative words) lame? Further, why bother engaging in a battle of wits when you are obviously unarmed? I just checked her LJ page, and it’s friends-only. Probably tired of the people she harangues jumping back on her. True cowardice…
This is just my first entree into the constantly waging battle between mean-spirited losers and the (thankfully much more numerous) loving free spirits seen on LJ way too frequently. Apparently there are a large number of people, all of them about 15 years old it seems, who don’t feel as if their day is complete unless they can abuse a random human that crosses their path. I’m astounded at the level of immaturity that people have, and yet they are just barely smart enough to run a computer. Amazing.
Anyway, I’m not gonna play over there anymore. I don’t want to stop getting email notifications of post responses in my journal and others, but I’m not going to subject myself to some little kid’s hyperactive attacks against me either. Maybe this little girl will find something else to amuse herself with soon, like illegal drugs or something. Ah, the idea of some snotnosed brat getting arrested and hauled off to prison sure does brighten up one’s day, doesn’t it?
current_mood: angry
Just found out about the Naked Parts community. I guess Lianna doesn’t need to coordinate an XXXMas 2001 celebration, eh?
current_music: Shaggy – Wasn’t Me
current_mood: horny
What’s the good of having a significant other if they’re 800 miles away? Grrr…
I really do plan to update my website someday soon, as soon as I can get my brand-new, not-even-paid-for, computer to WORK reliably for more than 10 minutes at a time. (At that point, I will get around to re-installing my programs for web wonderment. I actually have a RIAA piece I’ve been planning, composed primarily of old LJ posts rearranged in a coherent narrative.) Gee, wonder why Micron is getting out of the computer business? Windows ME blows chunks.
Speaking of unreliable, I really miss my broadband internet connection. Dialup blows almost as much as WinME.
New job is interesting, but could we cut down on the acronyms, please? Hell, there are acronyms composed of other acronyms, some of which are in turn acronym-laden. WTF?
Tomorrow morning, chai at work. Only way to make it through those regulations and powerpoint presentations. Powerpoint is evil.
Why do so many people have webcams to show off their home life, including copious nekkidness, to thousands of strangers? MAJOR exhibitionist tendencies. Calling Dr. Jung, calling Dr. Freud…
I really need to stop drinking Mountain Dew at 10 pm.
I like horizontal rules.
current_music: CNN Headline News
current_mood: tired
So, on the way home today, going about 10 mph over the speed limit, some moron Marine roars up behind me in his ricey Acura, and before I can change lanes (duh wonder what that blinker means), he speeds around me, passing on the right. Second guy (soldier type) does the same thing right on his tail.
Twenty seconds later, I’m right behind them at a stoplight. Yeah, the extra wear and tear sure is helping you get home faster, putz boy.
current_mood: amused
Just found a cool site, that apparently has been around for years. Anyone who has been to Asia has undoubtedly seen examples of nonsensical English phrases plastered on buildings, packages, and advertisements. Someone has built a website to hold examples: Engrish. Here’s one to enrishes everyone and take the everyday time to thirst level!!! (or something)
current_mood: amused
Finally, the corporate bureaucracy I’m voluntarily joining has deigned to give me official notice of the job offer. I can resume a relatively normal existence, soonish.
Of course, by normal I mean living in an apartment much too large for my stuff while waiting for my lovely partner and monster munchkin to join me a couple months down the line, with more stuff. At least I can have my computer on a desk again, although I will sadly be sans broadband internet for a while longer.
Money, I want money. Whole lot of spending money…
current_mood: relieved
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