Rain's Xanga

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Tue, 16 Jun 2009 20:17:41 GMT

Knowledge is short lived without health.

Not every solution is a compromise.

Live as though you control your actions; plan as though you cannot.

Theory without practice is deaf; practice without theory is blind.

Friday, February 27, 2009

Fri, 27 Feb 2009 04:51:43 GMT

Finally, someone I can relate to on the issue of file sharing! And one who knows more than myself about it, to boot...

According to Per Sundin, CEO of Universal Music, the decline in music revenues in the past 8 years can be fully attributed to (read: blamed on) illegal file sharing. If this were actually true, many of us might even respect his decision to go after pirates as fiercely as the music industry is doing right now. However, the past 8 years have seen a lot more changes in the landscape of home entertainment than Per Sundin would like to admit, and some of those changes have had a massive impact on music profitability — much more so than any amount of piracy.

Let us refresh our memories and take a look at what actually happened during and just before the past 8 years:

1. First, the explosive rise of computer and console gaming. This competitive ‘third element’ has appeared in the entertainment landscape, beaten both music and movies to the curb and taken a huge cut out of the music industry’s revenues. Consumers don’t have infinitely-deep pockets, and billions of ‘recreation dollars’ that used to go almost exclusively to music, are now going into gaming.

2. International trade agreements have allowed consumers to buy their music across borders, rather than accepting local prices on music based on the ‘relative wealth’ of nations, rather than the actual value of the product.

3. New forms of distributable media, most notably MP3s but also CDs, have become mainstream. These new media don’t degrade over time and rarely break at all, making music rebuys a thing of the past, and allowing the second-hand market for music to thrive and expand - both of which take a cut out of the music industry’s former revenues.

4. Radical technological innovation has taken place in the field of music creation, processing, mixing, and mastering. Recording hardware, CD burners, music software, and media encoders have evolved to the point where most artists can actually afford decent-quality equipment to do their own recording and producing. Furthermore, this has fostered literally thousands of smaller, specialized studios that are challenging the ‘Big 4′ with lower prices, better terms for artists, genre-specific expertise, etc. Successful artists can now leave the big labels and start their own recording outfits on relatively modest budgets. Naturally, super stars like The Beatles or Frank Sinatra have always had this option, but the recent technological advances have lowered the bar drastically. This development is depriving the ‘Big 4′ of many of their former cash cows, who now use the major labels for their advertising and distribution infrastructure alone.

5. The World Wide Web has become an omnipresent force in the world, allowing cheap, end-to-end distribution of digital music, increasingly cutting out the corporate music distributors, who deal in trucks and CD covers, rather than bytes and bandwidth. With iTunes leading the way (very successfully ‘competing with free’, I might add), billions of songs are now purchased digitally rather than physically, no longer necessitating the big labels’ distribution networks.

6. The total number of radio stations, music television networks and other ’streaming’ sources of music has grown exponentially, giving music fans a huge selection of free (and legal) music options. Satellite radio, DAB, and internet radio broadcasts have made it trivial for consumers to simply tune into a channel broadcasting the exact sub-genre of music that they feel like listening to (they can even have a stream created for them dynamically, e.g. on Pandora), making the *purchase* of music entirely optional for the casual listener.

7. A massive selection of entertainment alternatives (home computing, console gaming, mobile devices, etc.) have appeared in the home, effectively marginalizing music as an activity. 15-20 years ago, youths would regularly visit each other just to listen to music together; today, that is virtually unthinkable without some form of activity involved, such as playing Guitar Hero or Rock Band, or dancing at a concert.

8. And finally, the music industry itself has embraced the opportunities of digital media, at last letting consumers buy *single* tracks at a time rather than forcing entire albums full of ‘fillers’ on them. Looking at the RIAA’s own sales figures for the past 10 years, there is a *direct* correlation between the break-off in album sales and the introduction and increase in single track digital sales. Looking at the actual numbers, it is abundantly clear that the vast majority of consumers never wanted to buy full albums in the first place, but were merely forced to by the lack of affordable single-track media. Now that the digital revolution has arrived, countless millions of 16-track album sales are being turned into 1- or 2-track sales, *decimating* the former revenues on music. THIS is the real reason why the music industry is hurting.

In other words: The “it’s common sense” argument that the music industry is peddling in their attempt to tie the declining revenues to piracy, simply doesn’t hold. It is not as clear-cut as the industry believes; the true reason for the decline is something they are still unwilling to face, but will have to face sooner or later:

The fact is that the music industry’s revenues have been artificially inflated for decades because of limited consumer options. The last 15 years of innovation have lifted those limitations, effectively leaving the music industry with an obsolete, defective business model of monopolized production technology, forced album bundling, and almost nonexistent competition in the realm of home entertainment. What is happening now - the decline of music profits and the piracy witch hunt by the music industry - is merely the panicked struggle of a dying business model, a complacent industry’s refusal to accept its diminishing role in a digital world. The pirates are not the reason, and the decline is the not the disease. It is the cure.

This is a guest post by Jens Roland. Jens is a computer scientist by training, but a technology forecaster by trade. He has worked at international think tanks as a consultant and researcher in emerging technologies and has written more than 300 articles and a book on the subject.

Prison Tycoon

Tue, 14 Oct 2008 14:42:48 GMT

I wish that I was kidding, or that this game was meant to be a parody, but unfortunately it is exactly as it appears.

Wikipedia article here.

Yes, this is part of the "Tycoon" series, such as RollerCoaster Tycoon, Zoo Tycoon, and Railroad Tycoon. It is currently on the fourth iteration.

And yes, this game invites you to please cops until they are content, keep prisoners "in check", and make millions of dollars doing it as you build up your prison empire. I could not play it for more than 15 minutes due to sheer revulsion at what the game wanted me to relish in. Newer editions are supposedly attempting to simulate maximum security prisons and 'secret' government prisons. Sounds like the beginnings of a SimCity for Ayn Rand inspired sociopaths.

Tuesday, May 30, 2006

Tue, 30 May 2006 13:46:48 GMT

Kick ass:

http://dancedancerevolutionary.org/

Friday, April 21, 2006

Fri, 21 Apr 2006 14:59:25 GMT

I have started a personal weblog to catalogue my feelings and ideas: theturtle.livejournal.com

This journal will still be used for my studies, research and work, which hopefully will become something worth talking about shortly.

Friday, April 14, 2006

Fri, 14 Apr 2006 15:05:49 GMT

I am going to be taking an indefinite hiatus from Xanga until I have something profitable to say again.

Hopefully I will be prepared to return soon, but until then, here is a list of news and information sources that I find useful:

Political News
www.axisofjustice.org
www.worldnews.com
www.wikinews.org
www.zmag.org
www.infoshop.org
www.veganporn.com
www.csmonitor.com (called Christian Science Monitor because it is published by a church, but do not be fooled: this is one of the most intelligent news sources in English)
www.cnn.com
www.disinfo.com

Science News
www.physlink.com (physics)
www.biologynews.net (biology)
pubs.acs.org/cen (chemistry)
www.brainconnection.com (neuroscience)
anthropology.tamu.edu/news.htm (anthropology)
www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova (general science + tons of free documentaries)
sciencenow.sciencemag.org( more general science)
www.nature.com (general science news for those who actually want to understand)

Technology News
www.slashdot.org
www.gamespot.com

Music News
www.allmusic.com (latest releases and reviews)
www.allaboutjazz.com (jazz)
www.downhillbattle.org (music activism)
www.sadreminders.com (Red House Painters, Sun Kil Moon)
www.greenplastic.com (Radiohead)
www.kornunleashed.net (Korn)

Information Sources:
www.wikipedia.org (the most useful information source on the internet)
www.axisofjustice.org (political book, music, and movie recommendations)
www.zmag.org (the most relevant leftist site on the net)
www.marxists.org (not just for marxists! insightful collection of texts)
www.libcom.org (libertarian socialist news and information; note the godlike library)
http://web.austin.utexas.edu/wlh/index.cfm (tons of free college level textbooks and tutorials)

Anti-news (but still useful for studying contemporary information distortion):
www.foxnews.com

Oye como va

Monday, April 10, 2006

Mon, 10 Apr 2006 18:18:09 GMT

We have mourned the deaths in Iraq, the deletion of species in the Pacific, the melting of the icebergs in the north, the weakening of a still fledgling democracy in the U.S., and the death of farmers awaiting the fruit of their revolution in China. Any attempts towards a socialist paradigm have at least superficially been deflected, giving many a leftward leaning individual the feeling that we are at a loss to accomplish our goals.

In reality, our goals are being accomplished worldwide, every moment of the day. Despite attempts by most Western media to put the French worker's rights movement in a coat of black, the workers have won with the aid of dedicated students. The students, equipped with the power of education, were able to help mobilize and aid the sheer overwhelming numbers of workers to ensure that some of the largest protests ever witnessed in the world would be heard with great effect. The law they were protesting was techinically already passed, but no longer does it exist.

It is no surprise that most U.S. citizens are unaware that Texas was originally a part of Mexico, only becoming U.S. territory after our forceful takeover that resulted in needless deaths as many fleeing Mexicans succumbed to dehydration and starvation making their way across the harsh terrain between Mexico and Texas. Perhaps even less surprising is how those who are aware of such facts believe they are irrelevant to the current debate on illegal immigration. They act as though debts long unpayed are no longer due; as though killing grandparents should garner no retribution from grandchildren. This disgusting trend of forgetting history and pretending only the past decade exists is a strong part of American political culture that has allowed the American Empire to continue its dominance without recognition from its citizenry. Anyone who thinks otherwise is quickly nammed a crackpot conspirator without so much as a need to glance at history. Japanese labor camps in America during WWII? Never. Chinese miners dying to give us our precious rocks? Not in our well combed history books. Cuban immigrants tossed into poverty and malnutrition due to U.S. economic isolation of Cuba? It is not our fault what we do to the people of our enemy. Went to South Korea and Vietnman for no reason whatsoever? Well, politics is for politicians, and eating McDonalds is for U.S. citizens. Sometimes is seems as though our political culture sincerely believes that its amnesia can last forever. Remember those proud announcements of the end of history as we know it with the coming of the New World Order? Well, the times they are a changin'.

And perhaps the most stellar of all left victories in the past few years, the slow but sure build up of a third animal rights movement. When a mainstream news organization begins holding special sections just for animal rights related information, you know that something is a bit different from before. The use of the internet to increase access to normally obscure information which is necessay to understand the plight of animals has resulted in such heated debates as those on Wikipedia and forums across the web. Considering how originally animals rights was a subject you laughed at in middle school around the time that you learned to laugh at homosexuals and the non-religious and then cast out all such things from permanently from your mind, I think that we are beginning to see an all too familiar pattern with regards to the evolution of movements.

Now is not the time to mourn, but to step outside and wonder aloud: who will be the ones to charge that final hill and see these demands passed into our culture permanently? It could be us, if we would only lift ourselves up and make the movement.

Tuesday, April 04, 2006

Tue, 04 Apr 2006 15:52:11 GMT

I often used to look at people's computer desktop backgrounds and think to myself, "Where the hell do they get such beautiful images from?" Well, no longer, for I have discovered the very vault from which all beautiful pictures originate. And, unsurprisingly, this treasure trove is located at Wikipedia.

Go here and view the images that wikipedians have selected as the 'best of' in the wiki archives. I gurantee that you'll find at least a few you like, especially if you enjoy images ranging from the atmoic scale to the cosmological scale.

This is the link to the Wikipedia 'best of' desktop image collection.

Here is a link to the section of Wikipedia featured images, many of which can be used as desktop backgrounds to fantastic effect.

Saturday, April 01, 2006

Sat, 01 Apr 2006 22:47:18 GMT

My heart is filled with joy when I see you here, as the brooks fill with water when the snows melt in the spring, and I feel glad as the ponies do when the fresh grass starts in the beginning of the year.

I heard of your coming when I was many sleeps away, and I made but a few camps before I met you. I knew that you had come to do good to me and my people. I looked for the benefits which would last forever, and so my face shines with joy as I look upon you.

My people have never first drawn a bow or fired a gun against the whites. There has been trouble on the line between us, and my young men have danced the war dance, but it was not begun by us.

It was you who sent out the first soldier, and it was we who sent out the second.

Two years ago, I came upon this road following the buffalo, that my wives and children might have their cheeks plump and their bodies warm. But the soldiers fired on us, and since that time there has been a noise like that of a thunderstorm, and we have not known which way to go.

So it was upon the Canadian.

Nor have we been made to cry once alone. The blue dressed soldiers and the Utes came from out of the night when it was dark and still, and for campfires, they lit our lodges. Instead of hunting game, they killed my braves and the warriors of the tribe cut short their hair for the dead.

So it was in Texas.

They made sorrow come into our camps, and we went out like buffalo bulls when the cows are attacked. When we found them we killed them, and their scalps hang in our lodges.

The Comanches are not weak and blind like the pups of a dog when seven sleeps old. They are strong and farsighted like grown horses. We took their road and went on it. The white women cried, and our women laughed.

But there are things which you have said to me which I did not like. They were not sweet like sugar, but bitter like gourds. You said that you wanted to put us on a reservation, to build us houses, and to make us Medicine Lodges.

I do not want them.

I was born upon the prairie where the wind blew free, and there was nothing to break the light of the sun. I was born where there were no enclosures, and where everything drew free breath. I want to die there, and not within walls.

I know every stream and every wood between the Rio Grande and the Arkansas. I have hunted and lived over the country. I lived like my fathers before me, and like them I lived happily.

When I was at Washington, the Great White Father told me that all the Comanche land was ours, and that no one should hinder us in living upon it. So why do you ask us to leave the rivers, and the sun, and the wind, and live in houses?

Do not ask us to give up the buffalo for the sheep. The young men have heard talk of this, and it has made them sad and angry. Do not speak of it no more.

I love to carry out the talk I get from the Great White Father.

When I get good and presents, I and my people feel glad, since it shows us that he holds us in his eye. If the Texans had kept out of my country, there might have been peace. But that which you say we must live on is too small.

The Texans have taken away the places where the grass grew the thickest and the timber was best. Had we kept that, we might have done this thing you ask. But it is too late.

The white man has the country we loved and we only wish to wander on the prairie until we die.

Any good thing you say to me shall not be forgotten. I shall carry it as near to my heart as my children, and it shall be as often on my tongue as the name of the Great Spirit.

I want no blood upon my land to stain the grass. I want it all clean and pure, and I wish it so, that all who go through among my people may find peace when they come in, and leave it when they go out.

Paruasemena Yamparika Paraiboo

- Chief Ten Bears -

Many of those I have met in my life have all but forgotten what happened to the people that Christopher Columbus found, that the Pilgrims found, that Europe found. Then there are others who feel we have paid them back by giving them reservations, plots of land that they can still call their own. But what love is there in stealing the loaf and giving back the crumbs? On caging the mouse and giving it solace by not killing it; letting it live with walls at every turn? I am not angry at my skin color because this is not about pigments. Reading this line by Chief Ten Bears, I realize that I am angry because such a beautiful people were crushed, caged, and scrap fed, all in the name of bearing civilization and shiny rocks. I am angry because we are still doing this today in Iraq, Cuba, Afghanistan, China, India, Russia, and most of the modern world. And we are still doing it thinking that we bring civilization, that we are God's people and we can only do good. What use is history if you will not learn from it?

Sunday, March 26, 2006

Sun, 26 Mar 2006 19:31:08 GMT

If you think you are too small to make a difference, try sleeping in a closed room with a mosquito.
- African Proverb