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If you have some time, get yourself a cup of coffee and read this article, concerning the state of the music industry and the recent demise of OiNK:
http://www.demonbaby.com/blog/2007/10/when-pigs-fly-death-of-oink-birth-of.html

“When Pigs Fly” is a thorough, thoughtful and balanced discourse on online piracy and file-sharing. It’s long, but full of insight and powerful ideas.

Here are a few quotes from the post:

For the major labels, it’s over. It’s fucking over. You’re going to burn to the fucking ground, and we’re all going to dance around the fire. And it’s your own fault.
…
Through sites like Oink, the amount and variety of music I listen to has skyrocketed, opening me up to hundreds of artists I never would have experienced otherwise. I’m now fans of their music, and I may not have bought their CDs, but I would have never bought their CD anyway, because I would have never heard of them! And now that I have heard of them, I go to their concerts, and I talk them up to my friends, and give my friends the music to listen to for themselves, so they can go to the concerts, and tell their friends, and so on.
…
4. Get political. The fast-track to ending all this nonsense is changing intellectual property laws. The RIAA lobbies politicians to manipulate copyright laws for their own interests, so voters need to lobby politicians for the peoples’ interests. Contact your local representatives and senators. Tell them politely and articulately that you believe copyright laws no longer reflect the interests of the people, and you will not vote for them if they support the interests of the RIAA. Encourage them to draft legislation that helps change the outdated laws and disproportionate penalties the RIAA champions. Contact information for state representatives can be found here, and contact information for senators can be found here. You can email them, but calling on the phone or writing them actual letters is always more effective. had to know this day was coming, right? Your very industry is founded on an unfair business model of owning art you didn’t create in exchange for the services you provide. It’s rigged so that you win every time – even if the artist does well, you do ten times better. It was able to exist because you controlled the distribution, but now that’s back in the hands of the people, and you let the ball drop when you could have evolved.

As you may already know, the popular private BitTorrent Tracker OiNK.cd was shut down a few days ago by Interpol. There seems to be lots of misinformation concerning OiNK floating around on the internet. For clarification: users did not “pay” for membership. Furthermore, the site did not exist solely for pirating pre-release albums. Inevitably, as a popular BitTorrent tracker, albums were often released on OiNK before their official release. http://tehpaine.blogspot.com/ seems to have it right, though, including an IRC chat log with OiNK’s 24 year old founder**, who is currently out on bail awaiting trail in December.

It’s been a sad few days for each of OiNK’s 180,000 active users, who anxiously await this latest turn in the cat-and-mouse battle against online piracy.

(** a vegetarian, by the by.)

We’ve had a few days of exceptionally nice weather in Bozeman (highs in the 70’s), continuing a long and beautiful fall. That last few days have been so nice, in fact, that I pulled my flip flops (my trusty Rainbows) and set out for my European Intellectual History class. ‘Bout 2:00 this afternoon (in Business Law, as it happened), I noticed something that had happened over the last three weeks or so of wearing shoes on a day-to-day basis: my toenails were ALL hideously long. Disturbingly so. I tried not to think about it… and hoped that no one else noticed. And promptly trimmed my toenails, as soon as I got home.

No flip-flops tomorrow, though: they’re expecting snow. Whoo!

Speaking of snow, I’ve happened upon a delicious beer for the coming snows: Snow Plow, brewed by Widmer Brothers Brewing out of Portland. It’s reminiscent of classic cream stout–dark, hoppy and smooth–but with a distinctive flavor of snow. I didn’t really enjoy it until tonight when I took one outside, under a snow-threatening sky in the dropping mercury.

Ah. Snow. Winter seasonal beers. And … snow. The end of the semester in sight. It’s a good season… a good time of the year.

It’s 3:46 a.m. Why am I still watching an Apple keynote from 1997? Why do I find Steve Jobs so compelling? Why do I idolize him so much?

But I can’t get enough. I can’t get enough of his vision– of his passion for Apple, his love for Apple’s core-user base, and his dedication to providing what he would describe as the “greatest products” in the world– products that aren’t just good enough, pretty good or good, but “insanely great”. InSANELy great.

And that’s what I believe in. Products that people can love. Products that inspire a fan-base, that become a lifestyle industry.

I love Apple. And, more than that, I love Steve Jobs. I don’t think I’ve ever idolized someone, before– ever had a “hero”, someone I unequivocally look up to and aspire to be like. But that’s Steve Jobs.

Watching this keynote from 1997, I realize that he made some hard and unpleasant decisions. I can’t imagine what it felt like to be Steve Jobs, in front of Macworld 1997, and be overwhelmed by the booing of the crowd, as he announced that Internet Explorer was to be the new default browser on the Mac. But he was right: IE was the best browser at the time. It was faster than Netscape, and had more support for more web pages than any other browser.

And how brazen: to include Bill Gates as part of his keynote! But he has such a clear vision. He’s willing to let go of petty rivalries: “we have to let go of this notion that, for Apple to win, Microsoft has to loose. We have to embrace a notion that, for Apple to win, Apple has to do a really good job. … If we screw up and don’t do a good job, it’s not somebody else’s fault, it’s our fault.” He continues, “if we’d like Microsoft Office on the Mac, we’d better treat that company with some gratitude. … The era of setting this up as a competition between Apple and Microsoft is over, as far as I’m concerned. This is about getting Apple healthy again, and being able to make incredibly important contributions to the industry.”

And he’s proved himself right. No, Apple’s market share has not grown significantly since 1997. But Apple, as a company, is healthy– a model corporation. While the stock prices of EVERY other significant computer industry corporation have declined over the past five years, Apple has emerged as victorious. And so, yes, I saw that the standing ovation Steve Jobs received at the end of his first keynote was well deserved. I wish I could have been there to stand among those industry professionals who first recognized Steve Jobs’ incredible vision for the future of Apple.

Yaar! I studied for 14 hours STRAIGHT for my Advanced Film Theory exam this morning… starting at 6:00 p.m. last night till 8:00 a.m. this morning…

And still didn’t do very well on the exam. Sheesh. My bad, though– shouldn’t have left all that reading until the last minute. Guess that’s my just desserts.

THEN, to add insult to injury, I got my Econ 302 test back, and someone beat me by 3.5%. Admittedly, I still got 100%, but … so much for fouling up the curve… yaar.

I think it’s time to go to bed for a few hours. Then, Sicko screening tonight. I really hope some people show up!

Laura Burnum was in a 45 mph head-on collision that knocked her out cold. Paramedics pulled her from her car and took her to the hospital in an ambulance. Receiving the bill, she found her health insurance had denied payment for the ambulance: the expense was not “pre-approved.” “I don’t know when, exactly, I was supposed to pre-approve it,” she explains. “After I gained consciousness in the car? Before I got in to the ambulance?” For many Americans, horror stories like this are all too familiar. Even for America’s insured, collecting insurance benefits can be like pulling teeth.

Sicko deserves to be approached with an open mind, despite Moore’s notoriety. I’m not about to extol the virtues of Michael Moore (I was rather disgusted by Fahrenheit 9/11). Sicko, fortunately, is a much better side of Moore than we saw in Fahrenheit: he’s angry and inquisitive, but his focus is on people, not politics; possibilities, not problems; and comradery, not condemnation. Coincidentally, perhaps, Moore is much less present in Sicko than his previous documentaries, not appearing on screen once during the first forty-five minutes.

Fifty million Americans do not have health insurance. Sicko isn’t a movie about these people. It’s about the other 250 million of us Americans who are insured and “living the American dream”, especially those bankrupt or buried in debt after uncovered treatments, or those unable to get treatment in the first place.

Typical of Michael Moore, Sicko opens with some broad questions: why does the United States have the highest infant mortality rate in the Western world? Why are health care costs so high in the United States? Less typical of Moore, however, the questions seem sincere and logically explored.

Moore begins by interviewing employees within the Health Care Provider industry. They indicate that it all comes back to the bottom line. “I had one primary duty,” says former Humana medical director Linda Peeno: “to use my medical expertise for the financial benefit of the organization.”

Starting with the United States, Moore takes his audience on a whirlwind tour through Canada, Britain and France, collecting interviews with patients and doctors. Though his faux incredulity at European health care prices—free—gets repetitive, he drives his point home well: individuals in Europe are never crippled by the costs of their medical care.

Along the way, Moore makes new friends. We meet several 9/11 volunteer rescue workers who have experienced significant health problems, resulting from their heroic work in the wake of the attacks. But as volunteers, some were not covered by the city’s insurance policy, and have fallen through the cracks.

Like many documentaries, Sicko rides a fine line between being informative and manipulative. It toys with our emotions, juxtaposing heart-rending stories and light humor. Moore doesn’t pretend that he presents an objective perspective, but at least includes details that don’t necessarily further his liberal ideology. For example, while Sicko celebrates Hilary Clinton for her work toward Universal Health Care coverage during the first years of Bill Clinton’s presidency, it also notes her withdrawal from the campaign and suggests her subsequent silence as complicity with the health care providers.

Moore’s overall tone is not of indictment, but encouragement. He highlights what’s best in our society and asks why not our health-care coverage? Sicko has been aptly described as Moore’s “least antagonistic and most restrained effort to date”. Appropriately so: we all get sick, and we all have to deal with burdening medical costs and unresponsive insurance companies. Sicko isn’t perfect, but it asks important questions, and elucidates those questions in a methodical and logical way. Well worth two hours, it would be unfortunate to miss this film due to partisan bias.

Sicko will screen at The Procrastinator Theatre on Thursday and Saturday at 7:00 ($2) and 9:10 p.m. ($1) and on Friday at 7:00 p.m. ($2)

I’m flabbergasted, truly!

Last week was Homecoming Week at MSU, along with the associated election of a Homecoming king and queen at last Saturday’s football game.

Unbelievably, however, the results of the election (see: popularity contest?) are NO WHERE to be found online. Not in the local newspaper (the illustrious Bozeman Chronicle). Not on the MSU website, anywhere. Not even on FACEBOOK, despite the better than a dozen “vote for so-and-so” groups and half-dozen photo albums from the Homecoming parade Saturday morning and the tailgate parties during the coronation ceremony. Obviously, I don’t care all that much (I could have asked someone … or attended the game, or something), but I’m curious, and all the MORE curious that I can’t find out from the infinite source of all wisdom and information (see: the intarwebnets!).

(Actually, I am mildly interested (heck, I even voted!) this year, just from a slightly politically incorrect excitement about the fact that a non-Caucasian was running for homecoming king … probably for the first time in MSU history (not true, actually– last year’s homecoming king was a Native American). But a black, intelligent and involved (an ASMSU senator!) football player? At a school that’s 95% white, 4% international students and 1% athletes? Anyhow. Like I said … I hate to by politically incorrect, or perpetuate stereotypes … but some times those stereotypes have root in reality.)

NO WHERE. How does this sort of information NOT get posted on line? Yes, we ARE Montana State University, but still…

Linda McCartney wrote: “If slaughterhouses had glass walls the whole world would be vegetarian.”

Browsing the internet tonight (see: avoiding Econ homework!) Andrew and I stumbled upon a couple surprising lists of famous vegetarians.

I’ve oft’ been reminded that Adolf Hitler was a vegetarian (though not a strict vegetarian, let the historical record reflect!). Until tonight, however, no one had bothered to tell me that so was Albert Einstein. In fact, here’s what he had to say on the subject:

Nothing will benefit human health and increase chances of survival for life on earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet.
Albert Einstein

In fact, vegetarianism has a long-standing history among Western intellectuals, starting with Plato, Socrates and Aristotle– all vegetarians.

There is a significant gap between the ancient Greek philosophers and the next significant vegetarian: the Renaissance Man par excellence, Leonardo Da Vinci.

The western Enlightenment was born from the discoveries of Sir Isaac Newton. Appropriately, Newton was a vegetarian– along with his contemporaries, Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Voltaire.

Vegetarianism was especially popular among romantic poets and Enlightenment philosophers. William Blake and Lord Byron both felt that their Romantic ideals demanded vegetarianism.

Later in the 18th century, notables as disparate as Leo Tolstoy and Charles Darwin join the list. For the philosopher contingent, count in Immanuel Kant, Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson. The list continues: Mark Twain, Mary Shelly, Jeremy Bentham, Benjamin Franklin, Susan B Anthony, Franz Kafka and George Bernard Shaw (who once commented that “Animals are my friends and I don’t eat my friends.”) all eschewed meat for vegetables.

Present day Hollywood also has a respected cadre of vegi-lovers. I knew Natalie Portman to be talented and hyper intelligent (to say nothing of attractive), but I didn’t know she’s a strict vegan. (Rather amazing, actually: many vegans (and vegetarians) tend to develop a more “classical” figure with time. Portman, obviously, has not…). She insisted on wearing plastic boots for her role in V For Vendetta, as did vegan Joaquin Phoenix in Walk This Line. Also on the list: Christian Bale, Jude Law, Dustin Hoffman, Jared Leto, and Jennifer Connelly. It’s not just actors: Clint Eastwood and Steve Martin are both vegetarians, in addition to being acclaimed directors.

I also found a few of my favorite musicians on the list, including Thom Yorke, The Beatles, Leonard Cohen, Bob Dylan, and Bob Marley.

Anyhow. I guess one can conclude that, though vegetarians are greatly the minority in the western intellectual tradition, it’s good to know that, at the very least, Andrew and I are in good company. =)

pedalpedalpedalpedal

pedal pedal

…

tssST!

CSSHT!!! whua… WHAM! BAM!

…

Ow.

…

OW!

1. The Decemberists
2. Sleeping in
3. Coffee
4. Mangoes
5. Eggs
6. Bikes
7. Sunshine
8. Mountains
9. Beer
10. Songs about international spies with booming refrains
11. Counting

8:29 a.m. – Mark sleeps peacefully (having accidentally turned off his alarm at 6:00…).

Andrew pounds on door:

*bam!*bam!*bam!*

Me: “Whua…”
Andrew: “Mark, have you seen the muffin pan?”
Me: “Uh … the muffin man?”
A: “No, the MUFFIN PAN!”
M: “Who lives on Drurey lane?”
A: “GHAA! … No!”

(in the background…)
*bam*bam*bam*
A: “Ben, have you seen the muffin pan?”
B: “The muffin man?”
A: “NO! THE MUFFIN PAN!”
B: “Who lives on Drurey lane?”
A: “AAAH!”

—

Andrew proceeds to barge into my room, get me out of bed, and demand that I take him to the muffin pan.

(Heh. Well, I probably deserve this … after last time when I hid the muffin pans for a while because they had sat on the counter, unwashed, for no less than three weeks…)

—

I love living with Andrew… =)