peawee dot net » Political Peawee

Dear Michigan and Florida voters…

Peawee — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 20:06:28 +0000

…if you’re going to cry and hate on people for the DNC choosing to count your states as half, please cry to and hate on the duly-elected state-level Democratic Party officials, who decided to hold your primaries early in blatant disregard of party rules.

The Democratic Party is not the government; it doesn’t have to count your vote to begin with. Be thankful you’ve any votes being counted at all.

That is all.

Del Musicas

Peawee — Mon, 09 Apr 2007 16:53:04 +0000

Yes, I know that the title to this post has no relation to a language, real or imagined. It’s about Music, and Purchasing Music.

As a person much less well-off than I am now (not saying I’m well off now, just I was worse then), I justified piracy by saying “I wasn’t going to buy it anyway.” Then as I gained a little more in the way of disposable income, I justified it by “The record companies aren’t playing fair, so why should I?” I still think this is a valid justification, by the way. However, I also viewed that once I had proper cash, I should make an effort to purchase music if possible and if reasonably fair.

Enter iTunes. The DRM on the $0.99 songs isn’t very tough to crack, the songs are reasonably affordable ($1 will get you two songs on a jukebox in Manhattan. $1 to get one song with unlimited plays is fine by me), you get to listen to the first 30 seconds of any song, so you’re not stuck with something unfun, and EMI announced a deal letting their whole catalog on iTunes be available without DRM for $1.29 each. It’s not bad, even in light of my standing beefs with Apple (to be commented on later, possibly).

Could I be using this to justify my purchase of Mika’s Love Today via iTunes? Perhaps. However, I don’t mind that I spent the money. I do enjoy the song very much, and voted with $1 to let some corporate person know I like it as well, so perhaps they can figure that good music has to keep coming down the pipe.

Happy Birthday!

Peawee — Sat, 16 Jul 2005 18:47:05 +0000

Sixty years ago today, the world’s first atomic bomb exploded in New Mexico to see if the durned things actually worked. In the spirit of the First Amendment, here’s a link to Wikipedia’s article on nuclear weapon design.

Idiocy of the Copyright

Peawee — Wed, 13 Jul 2005 18:42:02 +0000

So, for those who don’t follow Slashdot, British classical record companies are pissed at the BBC for “unfair government competition” by using the BBC Symphony Orchestra to record all nine of Beethoven’s symphonies, and then release them for free from their website. Apparently it “devalues” music or something. So, if I were to make my own music, and publish it for free, and if suddenly became rather popular, would people get all pissy at me for making it free? From The Independent:

“[…]the initiative has infuriated the bosses of leading classical record companies who argue the offer undermines the value of music and that any further offers would be unfair competition.”

Can’t I set the methods for distribution for my own lawfully copyrighted works? Also: I know a lot of people who’d be getting into classical music if they could find and/or afford it. Beyond Symphonies 5 and 9, it’s actually rather difficult at times to locate them. Best Buy for example has only a limited selection of classical music. It also costs a lot of money to go to a concert. Why not let the BBC do this, and be the crack dealer for classical music? Get ‘em hooked with free good stuff, then start making them pay. I understand that people have to earn a living in this world, but come on, when did making the calls as to what others can do with their own copyrighted content come into play?

Space Shuttle Madness!

Peawee — Sun, 19 Jun 2005 01:48:26 +0000

As of late, there’s been talk about killing the Space Shuttle program. You know what? I agree. The Space Shuttle has never lived up to its promise of a low-cost reusable launch vehicle. Even before the Columbia disaster, the shuttle has required an almost complete rebuild between missions, that some say are due to initial price reductions in the design during the inflation-crazy 1970’s (”See? We save $30 million here, and only need to spend $5 million on maintence between flights to make up for it! What else can we price cut?”). The Space Shuttle was also designed to compliment an American space station, which evolved into plans for Space Station Freedom during Regan’s administration. The International Space Station that replaces it is an effective sham, a large pork-barrel project floating miles above our heads. Private industry is chomping at the bit to push into low Earth orbit. Let them. NASA has always been the “dreamer” arm of the US government, so I say let them use their budget monies for dreamer projects, and let the routine fall upon the private sector. In other words, let the private sector worry about launching commercial satelites and removing trash from the ISS. Let NASA focus on things like moon bases and manned missions to Mars. Heavy launch vehicles like the Delta IV can provide suitable heavy lift capacity, as can the Shuttle-C programme, until private industry techs up to mach. And while private contractors are busy making space work, NASA can be busy with developing advanced spacecraft, and pushing the limits of mankind.