To provide a sense of balance, I should say that I really liked Otherland. So I guess it's matter of opinion.
The second volume seriously drags, (or was it the third?) but I came away with an overwhelmingly positive vibe from the book.
My only complaint was length. It took me almost three years to make it through all 4000 pages.
Damn school getting in the way.
Before I get started, let me clarify that I definitely hate DRM. I pretty much despise large record labels. So I'm not supporting them or anything, but simply sending a check to the artist is crazy.
First, where the hell are you going to send a check? Their fanclub? Do you know Timberlake's address? How about Snoop Dogg's address? How about Creed's address? Tim MCGraw? Whoever it is you listen to, you probably don't have any idea how to actually get money to them, unless they are local to you. And that's an altogether different story.
Secondly, there are TONS of people other than the artist who should be compensated. I mean, just because the CD says "Metallica", it doesnt mean that you are hearing Lars playing the drums on every track. It is very common for artists to hire studio musicians for recording sessions. Especially if they need to meet deadlines while the bassist is in rehab, or jail, or whatever. It happens, a lot, and the session players deserve a cut as well.
Aside from the actual music, there are the studio people. There's as much talent involved with skillful recording as there is with skillful playing. The cover art came from somewhere, and that person should be compensated. There are lots of people who attempt to make honest livings from the production of music and rely on CD sales for a income.
What the RIAA would have you believe is that their job is making sure the revenue gets spread out to all of these people fairly. And we all know this is a bunch of BS.
Really, the best thing to do is to support independant labels when you can. And when you can't, go MP3, Vorbis, whatever. This will (hopefully, if enough people do it) draw the talent away from the RIAA music nazis and empower the independant labels. Everyone benefits.
I used to live in a smallish town where AOL offered the best connection speeds over a 56k phone line. So I had an account. Forgive me. I swear, I would connect and immediately minimize, going about my regular internet ways. It was only for bandwidth, I swear.
Anyways,
Then I moved to a bigger city and bought broadband. When I called AOL to cancel the account, they assured me I didn't want to do that. Telling me I could still access AOL "Even over the cable modem" for 15 bucks a month. As if the cable modem were some sort of limiting technology or something.
I had to explain it to them in very simple terms...
My prediction? The Hokey Spokes would look great until the first time you chained your bike up. After that, they'd look great on someone else's bike. In general, bike accesories are a bad idea, unless you keep it under lock and key all the time.
I had a similar experience, though not to the degree of yours. I spent my first 11 years of school in DoD schools. My dad was in the army. I moved to a civilian school in the middle of the 11th grade and it was totally different.
My new Geometry class was still learning the basics (after a semester) whereas my first geometry class was already farther than the second would get all year. My new german class was still learning to count. The civilian school didn't even offer a civics class for me to transfer into. They had a single-semester class named "Government" that I slept through for an A. It was pretty shameful. My children will not go to public schools. Though I don't know how much better private schools are.
I could not believe the differences. I am glad I had the benefit of 10 and a half years in DoD schools.
Slashdot Mirror
Can we settle on "evil alleged evil spammer"?
Has there ever been any movie that accurately portrayed any profession?
To provide a sense of balance, I should say that I really liked Otherland. So I guess it's matter of opinion. The second volume seriously drags, (or was it the third?) but I came away with an overwhelmingly positive vibe from the book. My only complaint was length. It took me almost three years to make it through all 4000 pages. Damn school getting in the way.
You forgot "Collect all of the underpants"
Huge flaw in this logic.
Before I get started, let me clarify that I definitely hate DRM. I pretty much despise large record labels. So I'm not supporting them or anything, but simply sending a check to the artist is crazy.
First, where the hell are you going to send a check? Their fanclub? Do you know Timberlake's address? How about Snoop Dogg's address? How about Creed's address? Tim MCGraw? Whoever it is you listen to, you probably don't have any idea how to actually get money to them, unless they are local to you. And that's an altogether different story.
Secondly, there are TONS of people other than the artist who should be compensated. I mean, just because the CD says "Metallica", it doesnt mean that you are hearing Lars playing the drums on every track. It is very common for artists to hire studio musicians for recording sessions. Especially if they need to meet deadlines while the bassist is in rehab, or jail, or whatever. It happens, a lot, and the session players deserve a cut as well.
Aside from the actual music, there are the studio people. There's as much talent involved with skillful recording as there is with skillful playing. The cover art came from somewhere, and that person should be compensated. There are lots of people who attempt to make honest livings from the production of music and rely on CD sales for a income.
What the RIAA would have you believe is that their job is making sure the revenue gets spread out to all of these people fairly. And we all know this is a bunch of BS.
Really, the best thing to do is to support independant labels when you can. And when you can't, go MP3, Vorbis, whatever. This will (hopefully, if enough people do it) draw the talent away from the RIAA music nazis and empower the independant labels. Everyone benefits.
I used to live in a smallish town where AOL offered the best connection speeds over a 56k phone line. So I had an account. Forgive me. I swear, I would connect and immediately minimize, going about my regular internet ways. It was only for bandwidth, I swear.
Anyways,Then I moved to a bigger city and bought broadband. When I called AOL to cancel the account, they assured me I didn't want to do that. Telling me I could still access AOL "Even over the cable modem" for 15 bucks a month. As if the cable modem were some sort of limiting technology or something.
I had to explain it to them in very simple terms...
My prediction? The Hokey Spokes would look great until the first time you chained your bike up. After that, they'd look great on someone else's bike. In general, bike accesories are a bad idea, unless you keep it under lock and key all the time.
I had a similar experience, though not to the degree of yours. I spent my first 11 years of school in DoD schools. My dad was in the army. I moved to a civilian school in the middle of the 11th grade and it was totally different.
My new Geometry class was still learning the basics (after a semester) whereas my first geometry class was already farther than the second would get all year. My new german class was still learning to count. The civilian school didn't even offer a civics class for me to transfer into. They had a single-semester class named "Government" that I slept through for an A. It was pretty shameful. My children will not go to public schools. Though I don't know how much better private schools are.
I could not believe the differences. I am glad I had the benefit of 10 and a half years in DoD schools.
Am I the only one who interpreted "Googling for a date" to mean "Use google to find a date"?
No, but I bet I'm the only one who thought it was about using Google to find good deals on chewy fruit.