Chris

first off, the fine folks at the RIAA are now, it seems, going to be going after you in your homes for making you own cd’s from music you already purchased. so, if you rip a cd that you own and then burn it or make some kind of compilation cd from songs you already own, they feel you are a threat to their business.

is it just me or do the record companies seem to be desperately trying to cling to a business model that seems destined to fail. i don’t know what the solution for them is but i’m pretty sure that lawsuits and the like are not necessarily the way to go about it. all that seems to do is enrage your customers and drive more people to do the things you don’t want them to do. although, i do think their statistics are flawed or at least their interpretation of those stats.

i guess the movie and tv industry should be worried as well. if everyone had a faster connection to the internet, i’m sure people would be trading movies and tv shows as fast as they do music now. its only music at the moment because music files are much smaller than video files. although, i know you can go to sites and download movies right now (no, i’m not going to tell you where). but that is mostly confined to a smaller group. a group that has bandwidth to spare.

in the next few years when every home has a fiber connection running at ten times your current dsl speed, movie downloading and swapping will become a big problem. i only hope that the MPAA has a better solution to the problem at that time than the RIAA has now. i won’t hold my breath on that one.

plus, is your boss a psychopath? take this quiz and find out. it worries me a little how many of these questions apply to people i have worked with in the past. especially certain producers on certain films. i knew something was off about those people. i thought they were just assholes. now i know the truth. i hope they finally got the help they so obviously needed.

ok, have a great weekend all. we are off to hugo’s in studio city for a bite. if you have never been, i recommend it highly. it’s very good and friendly to non-traditional eaters (vegetarian, etc.)

later.

i’m at my “office” (aka Starbucks) and people watching a little. The summer is always interesting here in the warmer climes. much more skin is shown and many times that’s a good thing. in fact, there are some pretty good examples of that here right now.

sadly, sometimes it isn’t. you know what I mean. now, i’m not small or thin by any means. In fact, i’m pretty big. however, at least I have the sense not to wear a shirt where my entire stomach is exposed so it can hang way over my belt. although, mine doesn’t do that. anyway, you’ve seen that person before, i know you have. people just should look in the mirror a little more before leaving the house. i’m not against them, i feel bad for them.

anyway, i am at least taking steps to remedy my situation. first, and this will definitely come as a surprise to many, i have stopped drinking alcohol completely. yes, that’s right. no more booze. i’l give you a minute. . . .ok, you may wonder why? its not because i think i have a problem or that i think alcohol is bad or that i’ve found God or anything. nothing so dramatic. it is just time to stop.

all the rest of you can keep drinking as much as you want. i am not going to judge anyone. what i’m doing is only for me. just to see if i can. it’s really more of an exercise to help me get healthier. i don’t like the feeling i get after a night of going out for a few. the next day (sometimes the next two days) are just not as fun when you have a hangover and feel like crap.

this started after my last trip to vegas for add’s birthday party. that was early june. so it has been a couple months already. i won’t say i have not had a drink at all in the last few months. i have had one or two. stopping completely is harder than it sounds. however, my intake is way, way, way down and is going to stay that way. its just time for a change, that’s all.

also, i have started back to the gym and am eating less and exercising more. just like you are supposed to. i want to try it this way and see if things improve. i don’t want to resort to an all liquid diet like my friends tm and jh are trying. a doctor supervised ucla experiment. i guess its come to that for them. not for me. not yet anyway.

in other news of the world:

apple comes out with a 2-button mouse! hell does not, in fact, freeze over.

the space shuttle will get some in-space repairs.

and, NASA shows a few designs for the next-gen shuttle (nyt reg required). change for the better is good. let’s hope they are on the right track.

a noted Windows expert calls for a boycott of the next version of Internet Explorer (IE7).

and this guy has a lot of time on his hands but he might have a point. i have heard of this. at least it hasn’t happened to me yet. i hope netflix isn’t like that but you never know.

From across the www direct to you. Some interesting sites that might be worth a visit. Especially if you are looking to kill a few minutes (or a few hours). Enjoy.

The Playstation 3 info page of things known so far.

Microsoft Windows Vista (i really love that name. no, really. at least no animal names. kinda tired of that too) info page with screenshots.

Some speculation on the innards of the Video iPod, to be released real soon (i am holding my breath. i hope it doesn’t take too long).

Some good tips that every webmaster (like me!) needs to know to enhance his or her use of Google Adsense.

This looks promising. Record everything on TV and play what you want. When you want. No more season passes or setting the timer on the VCR (although, if you really have a VCR, its time to move into the 21st century and get a Tivo at least. I mean really people, tape is so nineties).

And, it seems some debris fell off during the latest shuttle launch. It looked so perfect too. So, NASA has grounded the fleet again. Well, the comet thing was cool anyway. Can we get something else besides foam? It doesn’t work guys. You’re really, really, really smart. Think of something else. Please.

And last but certainly not least, some very cool tips on how to speed up Mac OSX. Many of these I already use. I guess I could have posted them too. Oh well, easier just to link to this guy. Less work for me.