Shitty Logic

Wow. If I thought a pair of shoes were ruined every time I stepped in dog doodoo, I’d have bought a lot of shoes by now. But that’s what Kelly DeBrocky is claiming is the case with her one-year-old son’s shoes, and she’s suing for reimbursement from the city of Norwalk.

Ok then. It sucks when you step in dog poop. But never have I needed to discard my shoes afterward. You clean it off, end of story. And why were his soiled clothes thrown away? First, how did they get soiled? How big was this “pile of fecal matter”? And don’t you usually bring extra clothes along when you have a toddler? So if he did manage to get crap on his clothes, couldn’t you just change him and wash the nasty clothes when you got home? Wy would you have to throw them away? And why would she let him walk around the museum barefoot? Wouldn’t that be more hazardous than treading on some dog tirds with his shoes on?

This whole thing smells of someone looking for a little money. By the looks of it, she’s not going to get it.

I Couldn’t Come Up With Things This Stupid If They Paid Me

It’s amazing. Just when you start thinking that maybe the folks at the RIAA might be growing a clue, something like this hits the news.

According to RIAA technology head David Hughes, digital rights management software is not dead, and even though the trend now is to sell regular mp3’s that people can use when, where and how they’d like, the technology is about to make a comeback in a big way.

Excuse me a moment.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHOHOHOHOHARHARHARHAHAHHOHOHAHMMMMPHHHHH!!!

Thanks, now where was I? Oh right, I was trying and failing to say with a straight face that DRM isn’t a dead in the water idea. I was also trying and failing to take seriously a prediction from an organization that has been so far behind the curve when it comes to adapting to what the market is calling for that it can’t help but make itself irrelevant and eventually run itself out of business. If you want to disagree with me feel free, but I won’t listen to you unless you can explain to me how they have failed to learn anything from the success of Napster and all of the alternatives that have come since.

Hughes does have the right idea I’ll give him that much, but the way he figures he’ll get there is completely backwards.

Hughes also said that DRM must change so that the public sees it less as a sort of policeman that locks music a way. He would prefer a mode where consumers don’t notice DRM at all. “People just want music when they want it,” he said. “It’s about access. If they get that then they don’t care about DRM.”

Try to get your head around that. People want their music where and when they want it, and the way to accomplish this is through the use of a technology that by design stops them from doing that very thing, only in the dream world he’s living in it doesn’t. Um yeah ok.

The thing he’s missing is that people already do have access to files that will allow them to use their music when and how they’d like. They’re called mp3’s, and the sooner his industry realizes that there’s a market for them [something the rest of the world has known for the better part of the last 10 years], the safer his job and the jobs of his bosses will be over the long haul.

Will Work For Booze

A survey of 1000 individuals and 250 businesses reveals that 1 out of 3 employees has gone to work hung over and that many of them have been drunk on the job.

I feel that this news is noteworthy for 2 reasons. First because the numbers sound a tad low to me, and secondly because of this snipfrom the article:

More than a third (36%) found it hard to concentrate, 35% were less productive, 42% felt tired to the point of being sleepy and 25% did the minimum amount of work and went home as soon as possible.

Maybe it’s me, but doesn’t that sound like the way most people approach work whether they’ve been drinking or not?

You can read the full story
here.

Jason Dunkerley’s Winning Track

I made a
joking mention of a friend of ours in my last post,
which reminded me that I owe the guy a plug. So since I’m nothing if not a forgetful man of my word, here goes.

Jason Dunkerley is not only a talented musician and top level Paralympic runner, he’s an all around good guy who has some great stories to tell and good advice to pass along. If you’re interested in learning about him, if you want tips on training or if you’d like to book him to speak at a function you’re putting on, check out his website,
www.winningtrack.ca.

Trust me, you’d be hard pressed to find a nicer, more humble and more articulate guy. And if you can’t trust me, who can you trust? Ok, maybe I’m not the best person to be trusting, but take my word on this one. You can’t go wrong booking J for your event.

30-24? Is That A First?

Being the punctual guy I am, I’m just now getting around to watching UFC 83. It’s been an historic show for a number of reasons. It’s the first time UFC has come to Canada and judging by the crowd it won’t be the last. It set a new UFC attendance record so yeah, they’ll likely come back. They’d be fools not to. But who cares about a full house or huge money at the gate or even Georges St. Pierre winning the welterweight title back in his hometown. the thing I’ll likely remember most about this show is the epic and heroic performance put on by one Kalib Starnes.

I would try to describe it for the benefit of those of you who missed it, but I’m sure that in a million billion years I couldn’t possibly do it justice. if you picture a fight between a scary man who kicks really really hard and another man who appears to have taken a wrong turn and wound up in a cage rather than the indoor track he was looking for, you might start to get the idea.

Kalib Starnes, the man’s man that he is, ran away from Nate Quarry for 15 full minutes. Why he did so I have no idea. He says he hurt himself early after a kick, but considering that he was already well on his way to showing that he could give our good buddy
J
a run for his money come Olympic season long before a single kick was thrown by either man, I’m not buying it. If you’re hurt, there are a lot of ways to say so. For Christ’s sake you can flat out say “listen, I’m not wanting to fight anymore.” If you’re hurt and can’t keep going, stop going. Don’t back up for 3 rounds and think you’ll win just because now and then you stop to give the guy a poke or half ass try to take him down.

I think this is the first fight I’ve ever seen get a full crowd “boring” chant, not to mention the “boo” “yea” thing that happens during John Cena matches when he’s exchanging punches with somebody. It’s also the first time I’ve ever seen a judge score a fight 30-24. Yes, Kalib Starnes was so ungodly awesome here that he lost 3 rounds 10-8. Well, everybody’s gotta be remembered for something, I suppose.

I don’t know if we’ll ever truly find out what his problem was that night, but his problem now is being out of a job. Yes, he was fired. You’re stunned, I can tell. Hopefully he does well in his next line of work. I figure that as long as he remembers that the big loud cars are on the opposite side of the drive through window from him and doesn’t get scared and run away from those mean nasty french fries, he should be ok.

Life Imitating Art A Little Too Much

It’s gotta suck when you’re in a play, your character is about to take a heart attack, and you actually take one. Luckily, the other actors figured out this was not part of the scene, got him some help, and he’s recovering. But I can’t even imagine the terror going through his mind. He must have been afraid that everyone would just be thinking he was doing an impressive job…until it was too late. Luckily that didn’t happen, but it’s weird all the same.