RIAA Goes Over the Edge

Everyone knows that the RIAA is run by lunatics, but this proves it beyond all reasonable doubt. The right of the owner of copyrighted material to make copies for their own personal use as well as sell their purchased copy to someone else, is well-established law. The RIAA and MPAA have tried unsuccessfully for decades to change things. Now they are using blatant extortion to accomplish what they couldn't in a courtroom. I think it is time for some RIAA smack-down. With the online file-sharing, they at least had sort of a legal leg to stand on. Now they are just proving what many have been saying all along: they are no more than thugs and should be treated as such.

UPDATE:
The wording of the article was misleading: the RIAA was going after this guy because he was making the tracks available for download. There are still problems with that, but they are different issues than the original article raised. Still, the RIAA referred to copies of CD's I own on my computer and iPod as "unauthorized." Steaming pile of horse hockey.

Why We Need Fewer Attorneys

This guy obviously isn't getting enough legitimate billable hours.

From the Annals of Improbable Research

What I Say Three Times is True

OK, I've probably said it more than three times: there is no natural law that says English will be spoken at the first permanent lunar base.

It Begins

This should be interesting....

Photos, Photos, and More Photos

I finally got off my butt and cleaned off the camera and uploaded them to Flickr:

Last bunch of photos from Arcosanti
Moving and unpacking into our new apartment
Pictures of me with some of our Michigan family
Our latest visit to the Ethel M chocolate factory
Photos from the drive back from Vegas
More Prescott photos
Christmas day photos

Well, I can smell ham. Later.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to All!

Ric and I went downtown last night with the camera and tripod to get some pictures around the courthouse square. I hope Ric will have them downloaded and posted by the end of this week. (I'm also hoping some of them turned out --- it looked like in on the small preview screen)

Lazy Day

We are taking today completely off. We haven't even bothered with getting dressed as of 3:30pm, with the likelihood that we will becoming smaller as the minutes tick by. I'm caught up with my reading at this point, so I'm doing some catching up here. I'm going to try to get photo's cleaned up and posted and a mass Christmas e-mail to everyone in my mailing list. So if you read this and don't get an e-mail from me in the next couple days, I don't have a current address for you.

Anyway, all this typing is making me tired.

P.S. I've been informed that a story I linked to most likely is not true. As I said in the comments to that post, the fact that the story was believable says a great deal about the people we have chosen to turn our children over to.

Fweeeeeeep

Last night, we went out for dinner after I picked up Debbie at work. As we were pulling out of the parking lot, I could hear a high-pitched whistle. I quickly checked the car's gauges. The whistle stopped. Wait! There it is again! Leaking tire? I quickly glance around the interior of the vehicle trying to get a directional. I happened to catch Debbie's eye. She cracks up laughing. Then I realized why I was having such a hard time figuring out where that confounded whistle was coming from and why it kept starting and stopping.

I had a snot whistle.

Sheesh.

Global Warming? Brrrrrrr!

Record cold all over the world. Due to global warming, of course:

Oklahoma, Kansas and Missouri are just emerging from a destructive ice storm that left at least 36 people dead and a million without electric power. People worldwide are being reminded of what used to be common sense: Cold temperatures are inimical to human welfare and warm weather is beneficial. Left in the dark and cold, Oklahomans rushed out to buy electric generators powered by gasoline, not solar cells. No one seemed particularly concerned about the welfare of polar bears, penguins or walruses. Fossil fuels don't seem so awful when you're in the cold and dark.

If you think any of the preceding facts can falsify global warming, you're hopelessly naive. Nothing creates cognitive dissonance in the mind of a true believer. In 2005, a Canadian Greenpeace representative explained “global warming can mean colder, it can mean drier, it can mean wetter.” In other words, all weather variations are evidence for global warming. I can't make this stuff up.

Global warming has long since passed from scientific hypothesis to the realm of pseudo-scientific mumbo-jumbo.

Genius or Insanity?

This guy is either really smart or really stupid. Of course, those two categories are not mutually exclusive....

Now We Are Safe

We can all breath easy now; a high school junior has been punished for using Firefox instead of IE. The Rules Must Be Obeyed. Even when they make absolutely no sense. If the school has an IE-only policy (which it is perfectly free to do), then why is Firefox installed on a school PC? Stupidity combined with gross incompetence.

Almost Not Funny

The comic Non Sequitur is almost hitting too close to the mark with the latest series: Part 1; Part 2.

Camille Paglia

Camille Paglia's latest column covers a lot of ground, most of it important. Agree or disagree, we need to think about these things. We are provably not.

How to Stop Global Warming

Paint everything white. Keep the sun off the blacktop. All for the price of a global climate conference, and without destroying the economy of Western Civilization. So of course, it won't even be considered.

Racism

Our masters tell us this isn't racism. Blacks are incapable of racism because they are an oppressed minority. We are on a road. It's destination is known, and it isn't pleasant for anyone, black or white. Yet we continue.

Disappearing Doors

Finally, someone has made a substantive change to how users interact with their automobiles. This is so sweet.

Sifting and Sorting

Sorry for the long gap in posting. It's been a crazy month so far. Most of what I've been doing has been posted here, but just a quick review:

November 30th - Last day working in the Arcosanti foundry.
December 1st - move and clean out our room at Arcosanti in the rain while wading through mud.
December 2nd - unpack everything moved yesterday.
December 3rd - repack for trip to Michigan.
December 4th - Fly to Michigan.
December 5th & 6th - run around with parents visiting.
December 7th - pick up truck, get it stuck in my parents driveway, load it, drive as far down our old road as I could, then wade through snow up to my knees to our cabin to grab last minute stuff, put that in the truck, then drive the truck as far as Kalkaska.
December 8th - Meet my copilot at breakfast, drive to Burt, load the truck, then drive to somewhere in Indiana. Rain starts.
December 9th - Melt ice off truck windows, then drive to somewhere in Missouri. Continuous rain.
December 10th - Melt ice off truck windows, then drive to somewhere in Texas. Continuous freezing rain. The governor of Oklahoma celebrates our drive through his state by declaring it a disaster area.
December 11th - See the sun for the first time since leaving Michigan. Arrive in Prescott around 9pm.
December 12th - unload everything and return the truck. Drive back to apartment and stare helplessly at mountain of plastic bins.
December 13th - start unpacking.
December 14th - take copilot and Debbie's mom on tour of Arcosanti and Jerome.
December 15th - drive copilot and Debbie's mom to the Las Vegas airport for flight back to Michigan.
December 16th - drive back to Prescott and poke around in a few more plastic bins.
December 17th - start hard core unpacking and finding a place for things (the dumpster seems to be the easiest...).
December 18th - realize that we haven't done any grocery shopping since sometime in November. Spend entire morning shoving old ladies into the soup cans while I try to get the shopping done. Spend entire afternoon working through the mountain of laundry that has piled up while having all that fun for the last 17 days.

Thanks to everyone that helped, otherwise, I would still be somewhere in Oklahoma. At this point, we can see some of the floor in each room. No part of the apartment can be considered "done," but a couple are getting close. I have a ton of pictures that have been piling up on the camera that I absolutely must get downloaded, cleaned up, and loaded onto Flickr. I'll try for tomorrow, but no promises.

He's here!

Ric and Richard pulled into the apartment parking place around 9pm ish. We able to get a nice room down a couple blocks from us at the Mile High Motel for a reasonable rate. It is good size with a kitchen(ette) and living room and sunken bedroom. They will have tomorrow and most of Thurs to unpack the Penske truck. Then Thurs night my Mom arrives and we get to play tourist for the rest of the weekend.

Almost here!

Ric is about 40 miles outside of Prescott as I type this. They should be pulling in here in about an hour or so. He said they really didn't see all the snow they said hit Flagstaff. It either melted really fast or they exaggerated the amount.

Texas

Well....they are almost here. Today roads were wet with salt on them and the truck iced up while driving. They had slight problems finding fuel -- some places were without power! They ended up stopping for the night in Shamrock Texas. They are staying at the same hotel Ric and I stayed at on our drive here last year. Depending on the traffic and roads, they hope to get to at least Flagstaff AZ tomorrow night.

Missouri

Ric and Richard made it just short of Springfield MO tonite. Ric said the trees were encased in ice, but the highway was fine. After they did dinner and headed back to their hotel -- the truck was getting iced. It should be fun in the morning. They are going to try to push it and get into Arizona -- or at least New Mexico before they stop for the night tomorrow night. It will all depend on what the weather and roads are like.

Illinois

I just called Ric to see what weather mess he was in. This morning they almost fell on their butts getting out to the truck -- but the roads were already salted down and they didn't have much of a problem. They are right now crossing thru Illinois -- green grass and only raining now. I warned him about the icy/snow mix in his path until sometime Tuesday. I also mentioned the inch of ice in Oklahoma --- so, they are warned and will take it easy if they get in the middle of the icy mess.

Scrambled eggs?

This week I bought some eggs for the first time in over a year. I was planning on scrambled eggs and ham for breakfast. I went to get things ready this morning and ...... no frying pan yet! I guess I have to wait until after we unpack our kitchen things coming from Michigan.

We got some snow overnite here --- just a dusting. Looks like the next couple days are forecasting snow mix here also. In Prescott we are at about 5000 elevation -- at Arcosanti we were at about 3500.

Icy conditions

Oh Great! Looking at the national weather spots on the internet --- the guys are in for a few BAD days of driving. They may have to rethink their travel plans and get south faster somehow and then cut across. The icy conditions are showing in the sections they are in today. I will post an update from Ric whenever he calls. Keep the prayers going for safe travels.

Ric left MI

Ric just called for the night. They made good time with loading things at my Mom's, so they decided to get some miles under their belts tonite. They ended up just outside Ft Wayne IN for the night. He said the truck is pretty new (only about 17,000 miles) and rides good. It was just starting to rain when we were talking, he hopes they won't have to deal with ice in the morning.

Snow

No, not here (well, maybe in the higher elevations this weekend) -- but back in northern Michigan. Ric had fun with the big Penske truck yesterday. His parents place had about 2 feet of snow on the ground when he arrived Tues night and more coming each day. They dug out a spot to park the Penske truck for Friday so they could get our stuff loaded into it. Well...somehow they got stuck in the road when they first got there Friday morning. They had to dig it out and finally got it off the road. They got our stuff all loaded and then he had to get that truck up the "big hill" just past Don/Shirley's driveway. Ric ended up backing down the road and then gunned it (to about 50mph), past Don/Shirley in the driveway and gunned and fishtailed his way up the hill. He made it! Must of been fun (ha!) fishtailing a 20ft? truck partially loaded up a hill at 50mph! I'm glad he made it and didn't turn the thing over. They took it into Kalkaska to park it for the night at Richard and Sally's (not as much snow in Kalkaska) and better roads. Then up early this am to meet the seniors for breakfast at 7am and off Ric and Richard are to my Mom's house. Much more loading there with help of a brother or two and some nieces and maybe nephew. Then Sunday it is time to hit the road for the long drive to Prescott. Hoping and praying for decent weather on their way here.

Home Alone

I made it thru my first night alone in our new apartment. (Of course, the bathroom light was on to help!) I kinda felt like a lost puppy dog at first --- I got home from a day of training down in Phoenix -- and kinda wandered around the apartment. I already was missing Ric being here.

He had an interesting day of flying --- his flight from Phoenix was delayed due to crew. Of course, I was in training with no cell phone reception. I got his message on break and had to call another agent to do some checking for me and protect him on the next flight out of Detroit to Traverse. I think I am the only one in the office that can think outside the box. She wasn't too sure of what I was trying to have her do. I finally had to spell it out very specifically and hope she did it right since I had to get back to class. Ric and I played phone tag with messages all day. He did end up making the connection in Detroit --- doing the OJ run from gate 6 to gate 75! He had 10 minutes to spare til they closed the doors.

Tonite I had plans of taking care of some Visa statements and filing. Didn't happen! Instead, I got to play around with signing up for cruise360 seminars and such for March 2008. I just got the okay from work today that they will pick up the registration cost, airline ticket, and hotel! Wow---I love to work at AAA! I had that mostly worked out -- without double booking myself -- when I got a phone call. A great friend from Michigan called --- her first words to me were -- I hugged your husband tonite. I knew just who it was (and not just because I have caller ID on my cell) We had a great talk about her trip to NC. Unfortunately, my cell phone died after 30 odd minutes. Shortly after, Ric called --- but that had to be really short since the battery had only been charging for a few minutes.

PAID IN FULL

This was sent to me by another misplaced Michigan lady that was in Bible study when we all were back in Michigan. I thought I would pass it on to all that read this blog.

*PAID IN FULL *

A young man was getting ready to graduate from college.
For many months he had admired a beautiful sports car in
a dealer's showroom, and knowing his father could well
afford it, he told him that was all he wanted. As Graduation
Day approached, the young man awaited signs that his father
had purchased the car.

Finally, on the morning of his graduation, his father called
him into his private study. His father told him how proud he
was to have such a fine son, and told him how much he loved
him. He handed his son a beautiful wrapped gift box.

Curious, but somewhat disappointed, the young man opened
the box and found a lovely, leather-bound Bible, with the young
man's name embossed in gold. Angrily, he raised his voice to his
father and said, "With all your money you give me a Bible?
And stormed out of the house, leaving the Bible.

Many years passed and the young man was very successful in
business. He had a beautiful home and wonderful family, but
realized his father was very old, and thought perhaps he should
go to him. He had not seen him since that graduation day.

Before he could make arrangements, he received a telegram
telling him his father had passed away, and willed all of his
possessions to his son. He needed to come home immediately
and take care of things.

When he arrived at his father's house, sudden sadness and
regret filled his heart. He began to search through his father's
important papers and saw the still new Bible, just as he had left
it years ago. With tears, he opened the Bible and began to turn
the pages. His father had carefully underlined a verse,
Matt 7:11, "And if ye, being evil know how to give good gifts to
your children, how much more shall your Heavenly father which
is in heaven, give to those who ask Him?"

As he read those words, a car key dropped from the back of the
Bible. It had a tag with the dealer's name, the same dealer who
had the sports car he had desired. On the tag was the date of
his graduation, and the words...PAID IN FULL.

How many times do we miss God's blessings because they are
not packaged as we expected?

The Future of Vegas...

... according to Scott Adams:

The casinos lose a lot of money waiting for the portly gamblers with respiratory issues to waddle from the ATM to the slot machines. A better solution would be for the losers, euphemistically called “players,” to stand at the ATM and watch their funds be transferred to the hotel, while hoping to somehow “win.” The ATM could be redesigned to blink and make exciting sounds, so it seems less like robbery.

That's pretty much what "Loss" Vegas is.

Cool

Need a hobby? All you need is a flashlight, video camera, and a lot of time:

It's Official

As of about ten minutes ago, we are officially moved into our new apartment: I replaced the shower head provided by the landlord with our own personal shower head. That's how we know that we are "moved in." The first thing we do in a new place is put it up, the last thing we do when we move out is take it down.

Of course, because we spent all day yesterday moving the rest of our stuff out of Arcosanti, the weather decided to bless us with two days of non-stop rain. We grabbed a few things Friday night and spent the night in Prescott. When we got back to Arcosanti Saturday morning, we were greeted by a sea of mud littered with stuck vehicles. All the buildings leak, which says a lot about the brilliant architects and engineers that designed and built the place. It also makes it fun to try to clean an apartment up while water is running down the walls and dripping from the ceiling. By the end of Saturday, we were wet, cold and muddy, but we were done.

Now we get to spend the day trying to find places for everything and getting me ready for the Big Drive of 2007. I'll be seeing some of you Michiganders in a couple days!