I’ve often talked about the need for societal respect of content copyright. For example, the RIAA would not have a leg to stand on if people didn’t think it was socially ok to steal music. After all, when you look at your mp3 collection and see music you never paid for, its really no difference culturally than if you had a pile of stolen CDs sitting right there on the floor.
So I wonder, is skipping commercials with my DVR any different? If the implied contract between the content provider and myself is “here is our content, and our ads” then aren’t I bound to that contract?
After all, I have the choice to not watch the content. Nobody is forcing me. My job isn’t relying on watching reality TV nor MTV.
As we move to a culture that is more and more digitally driven, should we as a society stop and think about how we respect ourselves and respect the wishes and rights of others? Maybe if we did this more often, we’d have less of this lawsuit nonsense going on.
On the other hand, maybe we do need to go to hell first, where everything becomes so digitally locked up that we can’t do a damn thing with our content. Then we’ll stop buying most content because it is crap after all, and then the pendulum might swing back towards open systems after the major industries have collapsed.
What do you think? Do you feel we’re disrespecting ourselves by not having the self control to respect a content providers right to price their content? Do you feel that we disrespect ourselves when we talk ourselves into thinking that copying is not stealing? Do you think we disrespect ourselves when we’ll steal music but not steal the cds we burn it to?
Hopefully this evidence will get the Apple store to replace the fan. I know they have the parts now I took it there originally because I had to leave the next day for my trip. They heard it, but said it was “in spec” yet ordered the fans anyway.
I called the store and they said that since my machine was in last week, they’ve had two others come in with bad fans. So I took it in, had lunch and when I got back, the machine was repaired.
Since being forced to move my window A/C unit has been on the new deck, not having double hung window to fit into.
So with the heat wave coming (92, 102, 102, 96) I said screw it and bought my first portable A/C unit, a Sharp CVP12LX for $650 from Frys. It does 11,500 BTU (which is not the same as a regular A/C due to the exhaust tube), single exhaust (wish it had dual) unit that has a tank for water collection (others exhaust out the tube but oh well) unit.
The biggest pain (other than being 97lbs) is the window fitting. Now this is doable at least, but I didn’t want something permamently screwed into the frame (esp on the front window, where I wanted the A/C) so I tried to fit the sliding panel in. oops, window is 54″, slider extends to 48. So I put it in the kitchen window yesterday, which works, but the air is not directly on me, and while they say it will cool a room 470sq, its a bit of a misnomer because the exhaust tube which leads to the window is reading 120f on the surface. That heat is radiating back into the room of course.
So this morning I cut some cardboard and made an insert to extend the window panel for the front window. I wrapped it in Reflectix which I had left over from the skylight upgrade. This worked awesome, except the window frame is not square, so the top of the fit had a nice 1-1/2″ gap where the bottom was flush. Tilting the window up helped, but for now I decided some quadrupled over reflectix would work. I filled the gaps and then cut a piece of reflectix 58″ long, 6 1/2″ side and laid it down the entire length of the panel.
So now I have 58f air circulating on me because the Sharp has a Louvre mode which moves the air up and down, really nice actually. Its pretty quiet for being in the room, too!
I also cut some reflectix to lay over the tubing as an experiment to see if I could reduce the amount of heat radiating into the room.
The real pain is if I leave, I have to remove all of this stuff and close the window. I could put the bracket in, but that won’t prevent some kid from pushing in the cardboard and tossing water inside, or whatever. Then reverse the process when I want to go back to A/C.
However, yes it was really expensive, but I should only need it for 4-5 days at a time, then I can put it into the garage, or downstairs, until summer is over. I doubt I will move it into the bedroom each night simply for the fact that lifting a bulky machine that weighs 97bs up the stairs is a bit of a risk.
I’ll track what accuweather says the temp is, what my thermostat in the hall says the temp is and how I feel the temp is for today and tomorrow.
I just took a thermal reading on the tube. 107f on the tube, 75f on the reflectix laying on top of it. This will be interesting as if this keeps pace, I can just cut a length and buy some velcro to affix in several places. That will make a nice removable wrap for the tubing, and force almost all of the hot air out the window.
No macs of course – This is why I stopped using myspace – they don’t check any of the content put on their site. If you use windows, be wary of myspace content. People can upload anything they want, including ads that take advantage of windows security flaws, as millions of windows users found out:
Tuesday we rode Space Mountain, Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan, Teacups, Mark Twain and did the ride around the park. After a dole whip and lots of water, we headed for my parents about quarter to 1.
Hung out at the folks, had lunch, headed to the airport for our 7:05 flight, which left around 10:15 due to a radar outage in Palmdale, shutting down all of So Cal flights. We were fortunate that our flight was a hop through with no transfers. Others ended up cancelled and had to find hotels on their own dime.
We have a great time despite the heat, pain and long days of exhaustion. I can’t wait to go back!
Today is Disneyland’s 51st birthday and it is much cooler. It was warm at the mouseplanet.com meet n greet. Met Newell (sp?) and Promoman, along with Adrienne and Andrew. I didn’t see Jo, so hopefully she was sleeping peacefully.
We started the morning on the monorail, then autopia, then over to DCA where we learned Soarin’ Over Calif is open 30 mins before park opening, so we rode that, then ToT. Calif Screamin’ was shutdown for an unknown length of time. By the time we found water, etc, it was time for the meet n greet, so back over to DL, then to pirates, then we left to have lunch at mimi’s. Now its 4 hours of resting the feets (which I still don’t know why they hurt so much this trip, I bought “the best walking shoes” but I don’t think they have any give whatsoever) and then my brother is coming out to meet us around 6 to finish off DCA in style.
Its very very windy now and cloudy, so the thunderstorm predictions may come true and change our evening plans, but no matter, its been a really fun trip. We’ve seen all we came to see, ridden just about everything and have had a lot of fun!
Today we hit Target at 8am for socks and goodies. Then to the park and ran into my brother who was finishing planning my 40th birthday surprise! He lives down here and put together a treasure hunt where we had to go around and find clues to prizes. Was very fun, a lot of work on his part! I got the pirates dice game from dead man’s chest, the dmc version of pirates Life, a framed map of my treasure hunt, a piece of cursed pirate treasure and some dvds on pirate lore. Oh and a book I won’t mention
It was really awesome! I have a super brother.
It is cooler today, this morning was great. we went on space mountain twice, buzz twice (as part of the treasure hunt) , haunted mansion and had lunch. We did the 50th anniversary show then headed back to the hotel as the clouds burned off and it was getting very hot again. I think the small crowds today were thanks to the heat. Its quite unbearable with the humidity. It sprinkled a little even. Tomorrow it says thunderstorms.
Its so humid my legs are chaffing where they rub (I need to work out!) I went to target and picked up some generic gold bond medicated powder. Let me tell you – The commercials were right! This stuff is awesome. I also tossed out my crappy boxers and bought “boxer briefs” of which I am a new fan of. The combination of those two devices took me from a very hurting, red, wobbling person right back to normal. Amazing!
I also picked up water for tomorrow am (half price) and some stuff for the room. We then went back to Disneyland at 5 (took the car this time vs walking from the hojo) and I went to sign in 20 mins early at 5:10 only to realize the reservations were for 5:10! Whew! We asked for waterfront seating and got that in all of 2 mins.
The Blue Bayou was refurbished along with the Pirates of the Caribbean attraction and along with the food, the prices were also updated. Prime Rib? $30. Pork Chops? $25. However before you keel over, the food was amazing. Much better than I have ever had at the Bayou. Much less potatoes now, and au-gratin to boot, but much more meat. The prime rib was 5 pepper rubbed and medium was perfect. The pork chops were a double chop and topped in apples. Really, really good.
We finished the meal off with the Flying Dutchman dessert boat which while entire edible, the sail and mast are not very tasty. The cookie hull and ice cream topping were delicious though!
The menus are commemorative Jack Sparrow menus, laminated and we got to keep those as souvenirs. They are only giving them away for 3 months, so this is a really nice catch.
We next saw the parade of dreams. Main Street was really empty for the parade compared to most days. We walked up with 5 mins to go and got a spot right behind the front row.
We then went to Fantasyland and caught a bunch of rides there. It was now 8:30 so we headed to the main street side of the hub, sat on the curb and waited for the show. The fireworks were great! We didn’t see every effect but the audio is much better back there and we got to be in the middle of the hub fireworks.
After the show we did some shopping for more clothes and called it a night.
Tomorrow AM we’re going to DCA for ToT and Calif Screaming, then to the hub at noon for the meet n greet, then back to DCA.
Our feet are pretty worn out, thanks to the heat and sweat and all. Makes those shoes quite warm But we’ll make it through because its the happiest place on earth, even in the middle of summer!
Ahoy Mates from ‘he happiest seas on earth! Let me tell ye, me and me wench be wishing we be on ‘he seas! We be wakin’ up at 5am to take that flying dutchman to ‘he park. Check into our cabin and get into ‘he park around 12:45pm. It be hot! 6 bottles of water later, we still be thirsty. Fine out me weagther buddy say it be 101 today! I believe it too, and humid like the high seas.
We be ridin’ plenty of rides, includin’ seein’ Capn’ Jack who be mighty fine!
We be sittin’ fer 2 hours ter be watchin’ ‘he fireworks from ‘he prime location and den dey be cancellin’ ‘he show der ter ‘he winds! Arrrrrrrrrrgh!
We be watchin’ fantasmic and endin’ ‘he day on ‘he Splash Mountain, where me hook slipped and me stepped on me wench’s foot gettin’ into ‘he log. Ye’d thinks a sea worthy pirate would have better footin’ on ‘he wet bench but alas, me just be hopin’ it not swell ‘r nothin’.
I be tinkin’ me be gettin’ a little sunburned on me shoulder, even tho’ we applied much good sunscreen, so me be more careful termorrow.
Tomorrow is a big day in the life of the project I am on. Elizabeth, knowing these last push days are hell, stopped by while I was out at PMUG last night and left me some gifts:
A note on the door to look on my desk. A stressball there and a note to look on the couch. Some marbles there in case I lose mine and a note to look in the bed. Some silly putty there just for fun (hmm, might have to get creative here) and a note to look in the shower. Water crayons and a message on the shower wall to look in the fridge. Sports water there to keep me going and a note to look in the microwave. Some food in there and a lovely card.
How cool is that?
I really appreciate this. I can’t say how much, but she’ll be informed just how much at a later date and time.
As noted on Slashdot, ABC wants to try and disable the fast forward buttons of DVRs for commercials.
Dear ABC,
Should you succeed in crippling my DVR, I will succeed in removing your programs on both ABC and ESPN channel groups from my viewing list.
I don’t need your content, however you need my eyeballs.
One person doesn’t make a difference? Tell that to the MPAA with declined movie box office revenue thanks to a steady stream of poor movies and poor movie going experiences.
I do watch ads – Often the dvr is running and I’m too lazy to fast forward through ads because I am chatting, or doing something else. Often when I am fast forwarding I see an ad and actually jump back to watch it.
However, force my hand and I’m gone. I encourage you the reader, should you agree, to let them know this as well.
Update:Boing Boing carried this as well, and has a quote from ABC advertising sales genius Mike Shaw who thinks we’re ok with them force feeding us ads.
Hey Mike! Did you google this? Nah none of us are upset at this idea at all! You are so right, Mike.
I took it there originally because I had to leave the next day for my trip. They heard it, but said it was “in spec” yet ordered the fans anyway. 