WotC has stopped all PDF sales due to piracy concern, Merlin Mann would be disappointed.

Stevie Nicks has said, “Because the music business is in terrible trouble. People are stealing our music. That’s all there is to it. In the old days … they would help you to develop into the artist that they knew you were going to be. In the last 10 years, the record companies don’t have the money to do that. I don’t know what the answer is to it. The only thing I can say to people is, ‘Buy music, do not steal music.’ If you do, you won’t have any new music later on.” Jonathan Coulton would beg to differ.

AP sent a cease-and-desist letter to an affiliate from the AP’s Chicago office after posting content from the AP’s YouTube channel on its Web site. Fail Blog needs to know and the Accociated Press need to RTFM!

Here’s my take on what and why:

Hasbo is as a company one word STUPID. They made a similar stupid choice when it came to Scrabulous. Sue based on IP then release a crappy version. Scrabulous returns and is better than ever. Hmmm. Why wouldn’t you make them license your IP instead of trying to strong arm them out of business.

WotC is a division Hasbro, therefore they are going to make the same crazy legal decisions based on fear. Hey Hasbro make a new game instead of retooling your old ones (New Clue I’m looking ate you.) Then maybe people would buy your stuff. I have no idea what Microsoft is paying Hans Im Gluk to option Carcassone but making it available to XBox players has got to be good for business.

It is the connections we make that make being so interconnected worth while. I am glad I am alive at this moment. I forget where I read it but there was an online article or blog post about making B2B and consumer web experiences better. The point that comes to mind is Free leads to Sales I don’t think it was stated as such but that was the point. That writer had an agenda about customer service reps should join in a development relationship with their customers (“this product should have this feature”, or “what about making something that does THIS?”)
Somebody already figured out it is on tour where you make your money as a band, selling music is really a 0 sum game, there’s no money in it. If people like your stuff they will get your music one way or another. If you give them the hit single for free and charge some for the rest of the album (somebody needs to come up with a better term for this in digital music land) people will buy it.

If you don’t understand what your company is trying to do when it releases content don’t be suprised when they use it and redistribute it. Hey there’s a EULA that describes your hosted rights. (I read the EULA and the manual and I have to tell you, scary language, Viri should have EULAs “Not responsible for breaking your stuff, and you can’t sue me” clauses are nice. Thy adding some EULA language to some of your conversations)

I know an author, who gives his books away in a serialized podcast format. His books sell well on Amazon. Publishers have taken notice and tried to sign him. The first thing they all told him is you have got to stop giving it away for free if we are going to sell your books. To which he responded you wouldn’t be selling my books if I hadn’t given them away, Your company rejected my work, I’m not going to stop, my fans wouldn’t let me. If I have any readers left kudos to who can leave a comment of the authors Identity. (I am retelling the story from memory which is why no link)
Welcome to the new media, doesn’t mean there is no room for the old media just less. Doesn’t mean there’s no room for profit, It just belongs to the artists but it is a smaller pie.

So how’s this for a premise? A high school science teacher finds out he has cancer and decides to make Meth to pay for his treatment and to set his family up for life.
Wait it gets better it takes place in Albuquerque (Which if you ever spent any time there you know it is basically full of tweakers), and his brother in law is a DEA agent. I know, I gotta see this it’s right up my alley. The ad said Season Premiere even better.

Now the downside, Season 2, What?! Whatever I already set my DVR to catch it, Lets see if it is worth it. YES it is. After watching it I had to get the rest of the series, and I have to tell you it’s good, real good. The camera work is wonderful. The characters are all twisted. The questions they raise is worth the uncomfortable moments and it is a nice distraction from Vampire Wars on facebook. Friend me and join my clan, and if you have gotten a Sorority Life invitation from me know it is my wife and not me. And know this too if I were playing it like my wife does there’s nothing wrong with that.

Just set your DVR’s to watch Breaking Bad.

I love Joss Whedon since I found out about his art. Firefly is the most entertaining thing I never knew about on television. When I watched it on DVD I kept exclaiming, “Why didn’t I know about this?” So here’s my place on making sure the boat doesn’t get missed again. Dollhouse Fox Friday nights set your DVR’s.

Dennik asked, “It’s not another Alias is is?” well 2 of the three episodes do have disguises of sorts but getting dressed up isn’t really the point. The next episode is the “let’s be bad guys” episode and Echo goes blank during the operation. That never happened on Alias (well I don’t know that for sure I never watched that show).
If you have missed the shows they are on hulu.com, they even have some bonus material.
So without spoiling too much
Episode 1 Ghost is a kidnap negotiation that doesn’t go perfect
Episode 2 Target is The Most Dangerous Game retelling
Episode 3 Stage Fright is a singing bodyguard to protect a singer who wants to die.
I have watched all the episodes several times paying attention to what is going on in the background. there’s some subtle stuff, but mostly it feels like we are just warming up to what’s to come.

So my wife says to me, “By the way that person you met a couple of days ago? They might be moving in.”

“WTF?! Y?” was my natural response

Deflecting the way she did when she brought home the dog, “You know people did it for us when we were young.”

I knew the fight was already lost. It’s not like we haven’t had people stay with us before. That’s not the point. I have spent one evening in thier presence, that is not what I would call the beginning of a long term relationship.

Our house is a mess, my mind is a scattered landscape of unfullfilled wishfulness, nonexsistant social life, my life is dominated by never getting anything done. Now there might be two additional people enjoining the mascerade? What are you thinking?

Then I also saw on George Lopez the exact situation play out
Angie George’s wife, “Do you have a safe place to sleep”
Woman who left her boyfriend, “I’ll sleep in my car if I have to”
George, “You go girl”
Angie, “No no no, You can -”
George, “Angie what are you thinking? Did you see that guy?”

Exactlly! I want no part of whatever mess that has brought [NAME AND ADDRESS WITHHELD *] to this point. I’ll help, but moving them in seems like a lot to ask of me when my fountain pens shipped a day ago. That’s a nonsequiter, I’m praticing for the Turnip.

It’s not that I mind, I don’t really. “They are old enough to be your children,” CRSE says to make me feel old and pathetic. Only if I had kids in high school dork. I wasn’t even sexually active then, so there! Not my kid. It’s not like I want to see them go to the mission ar anything. Just look how hard I have to work to keep my slothful demeanor. Now there’s going to be new people around so I’m going to have to act better and be nicer and stuff. It’s not worth the warm fuzzy feeling CRSE is going to get. I’d rather sleep in and stay surly.

* That’s a Spongebob reference, in case you missed it. What? Like you didn’t see the Spongebob Christmas special 53 times. The turnip really should work for an Islamic intelligence organization. “Me no mean, you are, No do what I told you to. Now!” Remind me to tell you about his hour long screaming fit when I dropped him off. Crse described it in one word, “Horrid.”

There are fewer places more dangerous than a child’s birthday party. I don’t have an anxiety disorder but the social pitfalls are many. I’m pretty sure I was being looked at with apprehension as I made my notes.

No really, I am just that antisocial. It’s not that I don’t like people, I’m just not sure about these school parents. That group over there, I’m pretty sure they are all cheating on their husbands. It’s in the eyes, look for it. That group there, I’m pretty sure my wife has offended all of them by her mere existence. OK, I’ll just sit here not looking menacing. Hard to do with a scruffy beard.

Here’s a couple of other notes:

A bithday party is not supposed to be that late, they are afternoon affairs. Cake at (either) 8 is just bad form.

Oh, look I’m the only solo dad again, I will say there are more dads here than at any other public party I have been to in a long while.

What is that older kid doing here, his slightly annoying younger brother is also too old to have been invited.

Sorry to be rude, but I’m just trying to get out of here before embarrassing my family.

Little girl’s shirts should never have 2 round things on the front, the two penguin holding hands sort of look bad at 25 feet. Even the heart’s eyes are a little misleading.

In a similar vein, I swear I am not going to hurt your kids. A beard doesn’t make me a molester.

And finally, Thank you for the opportunity to let my kid run around for an hour straight. I think that might relieve some of the built up Cabin fever.

So I haven’t had one of those for a while. The phrase, “Beware the cult of purity, infectious imbecility, I made my choice 666.” keeps ringing around my head. I read about a person who had a rather famous fugue like existence for a couple of months. He was here and now barely getting by, and in the distant past waiting to get martyred. I remember a time in my life when i felt assured that I was meant to witness something “Very Important”, the feeling went away before the impending occurrence ever happened.

Why do I even mention any of this? Well I am a mystic of sorts and I had a insane idea that I would never follow through on but it would have involved turning into an active criminal which I don’t have the stomach for.
I sort of miss the feeling of import things require my attention. These days I’m the token “weird” guy. Knowing too many trivial things (Like trivia comes from the Roman habit of posting notices at the intersection of three roads), having experienced oddities and strangeness CRSE says I cultivate. I do. There’s a reason, Knowledge is power, so I strive to know. and know some more.

I have a slight case of insomnia. It’s more like a case of data acquisition obsession. Give me data but not anything meaningful or helpful. No more like three articles about English translations of Proust, cardstock dice towers (Reliably roll dice to the same spot), What’s a Hackintosh and can I build one, hey let’s read the first of Proust’s Remembrance of Things Past, how much is a domain name, where can I get it hosted, what distro of Linux should I load on that old machine, what are the Top Coder standings.

And that is only one hour of fruitless web wandering. Where’s that writing assignment? How’s that JAVA class coming? So I sez to my self, “Self you are not taking very good care of your priorities,” to which I texted back, “StFU!”

Hey gang just a note to let people know I’m working on a story course and my JAVA class still.
The JAVA class isn’t what I’d thought it would be, but I kind of like it; and I am basically giving myself 500 word writing assignments based on the Writers Digest fiction class syllabus. I am just about sick of my crappy setting style, but I’m keeping with it and if CRSE promises to be nice I might show her my crappy writing for her wizardry.