Sometimes funny, sometimes thoughtful, always a good time
According to accounting paperwork filed by the RIAA, the record industry has spent approximately $16,000,000 on lawsuits against people accused of illegally sharing music files.
They have collected a total of almost $400,000 in fines.
We already know the file sharers who pleaded guilty didn’t win this scenario. Now we see that the record companies certainly didn’t win either. So who did?
The lawyers.
Just got back from the USA Ultimate national championships, being held in Boulder this year. This is the Masters’ Series (as opposed to the Collegiate Series) where all players are at least 30 years old. I was one of the official scorekeepers, which was a lot of fun and made me really pay attention to the game since I had to record turnovers, defensive plays, assists, goals, etc. There are some top-notch teams competing, and it’s always fun to watch ultimate at the national level.
The best: one of the womens’ teams I was watching had a player who couldn’t have been younger than 60. She had grey-white grandma hair, big glasses, and looked like she’d be more likely to make a nice glass of lemonade than huck a disc fifty yards. But she was out there yelling to her team, talking smack, and throwing like a bullet. I can only hope when I’m 60 I have that same kind of spunk.
Update: I found a picture in the post-tournament wrap-up. Looks like she’s wondering why her receivers aren’t making any good cuts.
“The internet’s completely over. The internet’s like MTV. At one time MTV was hip and suddenly it became outdated. Anyway, all these computers and digital gadgets are no good. They just fill your head with numbers and that can’t be good for you.”
— Prince, explaining (today) why the internet is a fad that’s now dead
I just watched an AT&T commercial from 1993. It was part of their “You Will” series, which featured quick glances of futuristic technology that AT&T claimed to be a part of developing. I remember the campaign clearly because I was in college at the time and my friend Jason and I designed some t-shirts around the theme.
Anyway, what I find interesting about these commercials from 17 years ago is they were surprisingly prescient. They predicted things like:
In hindsight I think it’s easy to say, “Sure, all of that is pretty obvious”. But 17 years ago, it wasn’t obvious at all. When you think about it, the things we take for granted today were barely pipe dreams then. What kind of amazing things can we expect in the next 17 years?
I’m working on some server configuration stuff for a client. They have an account at Rackspace, which is a well-known (and very good) hosting company. Like many such companies, they have an option on their web site for a live chat session. The idea is you can immediately connect to their support personnel and resolve problems or whatever.
Now, there’s kind of a joke in the industry about so-called “Headset Hotties” which are those areas on corporate sites that encourage you to contact them, and there’s always a picture of an amazingly beautiful woman wearing a headset and smiling broadly because she’s so excited to take your call.
Rackspace apparently doesn’t believe in headset hotties.
Uhh. Is that a woman? Seriously. If so, maybe she should lose the army-green cap and overalls and consider a different hairstyle. I fear that if I click the button to chat with her I’ll suddenly be online with someone named Helga and she’ll want to arm-wrestle.
“Just speaking generally, not about any specifics, and taking a wild guess, I’d say that’s a good solid maybe, unless my salary depending on raising money by saying yes, in which case I’d say yes.”
— Seen on Slashdot, although pretty much any politician would say it
Spent today at Sea World. Fun stuff.
Awesome!
Now I’ve really hit the big time… Angelina herself wants to be my friend!
Or– and I know this might be a long shot– this could be a spam message. Hmm.
Summer vacation update: as we were driving through Holbrook, Arizona on our way to Phoenix, we zipped past a little side street. It was so awesome I pulled a u-turn about a half mile up the road and came back just to have my picture taken with the sign.
Best.
Street.
Ever.
Can you imagine how cool it would be to tell people your address when they ask?
“Yeah, I’m over at 662 Bucket of Blood Street.”
Or something like
“…So you go about a mile on Navajo Blvd. and then take a right on Bucket of Blood.”
As a follow-up on the computer parts story below, Alex had the idea of making a little fan for himself. He thought he’d set it on his desk so when he’s working at the desk and gets hot, he could turn it on and cool down a bit. (A very little bit, as it turns out, because these fans don’t push that much air.)
So I helped him rip out the appropriate parts from the computer, plug it into a 9-volt battery, and voila! He did almost all of the work, minus some soldering that proved a bit problematic.
Now Zack and Kyra want their own fans, and there was talk of installing one on the outside of the rats’ cage to keep them cool on hot summer afternoons. Heh.