Archive for December, 2004
A Very Interesting Debate
Wednesday, December 8th, 2004
I’ve been debating with Ryan lately about lots of things mostly having to do with religion. The whole thing (so far) amounts to about ten pages of very rich reading. It’s sure to bring out your innermost beliefs.
Now if only I could write like that on my paper…
Spam with a Purpose
Tuesday, December 7th, 2004
It?s hard to argue that God hated Oklahoma. If He didn?t, why is it so close to Texas?
`She hit me on the head with the rock again.?
`I think I can confirm that that was my daughter.?
`Sweet kid.?
`You have to get to know her,? said Arthur.
`She eases up does she??
`No,? said Arthur, `but you get a better sense of when to duck.?
(From the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, I believe)
And, my personal favorite:
Men?s skin is different from women?s skin. It is usually bigger, and it has more snakes tattooed on it. Also, if you examine a woman?s skin very closely, inch by inch, starting at her shapely ankles, then gently tracing the slender curve of her calves, then moving up to her ?
[EDITOR?S NOTE: To make room for news articles about important world events such as agriculture, we?re going to delete the next few square feet of the woman?s skin. Thank you.]
All found in comment spams on this site.
Downloading Helps Musicians?
Monday, December 6th, 2004
In general, would you say that free downloading on the Internet has helped your career as a musician, hurt your career, or not really made any difference? Based on musicians/songwriters [N=2,755]
(%)
35 Free downloading has helped my career
5 Free downloading has hurt my career
37 Free downloading has not really made any difference in my career
8 Free downloading has both helped and hurt my career
15 Don?t know
From the PEW Internet Life survey of Musicians and Songwriters [Big PDF], December 2003
My comment: Musicians say it doesn’t hurt their career, it actually helps it… gee, I wonder why the Recording Industry hates downloaders…
My other comment: I’ve spent more money on music over the last year than I ever have in my life, and it was all because I could download albums and listen to different related artists and genres without buying a bunch of CDs that I wouldn’t even know if I like. If the recording industry wants me to stop downloading music, then they’ll have to deal with the side effect — I won’t buy any more music.
No Rose Bowl…
Sunday, December 5th, 2004
The entire house, or more likely the entire town, is somber today. For the second time in two months, the system screwed up, the votes turned out bad, and we got screwed. This time was not quite as bad, but it still hurts to know that in all fairness, a team was denied something that was rightfully theirs. I mean, if nothing else, Texas was shut out by Oklahoma, the number two team in the nation, at home, and we, Cal, very nearly beat U$C, the number one team in the nation, in their own god forsaken Colliseum!!! That, and the voters seem to have forgotten that we shut out the entire state of Arizona (U of A and Arizona State), while Texas only shut out North Texas… I’m sure that was real hard. Not to mention that Texas’ coach was actually lobbying for votes on television, something Tedford just wouldn’t do. Just like yesterday’s game, when he decided not to tack on the extra touchdown with 40 seconds remaining, very respectful, and as is the way of the world, you don’t get squat for doing the right thing.
Even getting past the loss of the Rose Bowl bid, the BCS system is royally screwed up. Look who’s playing Texas in Pasadena — Michigan! How exactly is that fair? They’re not even in the top ten! Argh.
I’ll be focusing on finals for the next few weeks, so expect sparse updates, if any. Also keep an eye on my new flickr account, and my gallery as usual.