Baffled. Utterly baffled.
How much did you pay the music industry for the record player you bought 30 years ago? What percentage of your 15-year-old tape deck’s cost went to the music companies? And how much did the RIAA get when you bought your new Bose speakers?A big fat zero, obviously.Which is why I’m so utterly baffled by comments like this:
Zucker also revealed his company had asked for a cut of iPod sales - though the company receives no dividend from sales of record or CD players.”Apple sold millions of dollars worth of hardware off the back of our content and made a lot of money,” he said. “They did not want to share in what they were making off the hardware or allow us to adjust pricing.”
Almost. Literally. Unbelievable.What can you expect, I guess, from an industry that sues its customers, cheats its stars, eats its young talent for lunch, and is generally a disgusting, manipulative, and corrupting influence on popular culture.What a zero.
bread & circuses
It’s really good to see that the American media knows what’s important: 3-foot subs that aren’t.
It’s not like there’s anything more important to talk about right now.
Snaining
Ho hum, it’s snaining here in Langley, BC., Canada.
(Snow and rain mixed together, for the uninitiated.)
Tags: snow, rain, snain, snaining, langley, bc, john koetsier
Waging a living
I just saw POV on PBS: Waging a Living, and I am ashamed that I am ever in any way discontent with my life or my job or my salary.
Waging a Living follows the lives of 4 individuals who are “working poor.” (More details about them.)
One’s a security guard in downtown San Francisco, making $9-10/hour. A raise of 25 cents an hour is a big deal to him. One is a nurse in New Jersey who supports 5 people on $11/hour. Another is a waitress whose husband left and didn’t pay any alimony or child support. Another is a woman who was abused through childhood and has slowly, painfully been getting her education and increasing her standard of living: 3 steps forward and 2 steps back.
These people are inspiring. But their stories break my heart.
I’m a social, political, fiscal, and moral conservative, but:
- it is not right that some make hundreds of millions and some make pennies
- it is not right that a waitress could be paid less than $3/hour in New Jersey
- it is not right that the gap between executive management and rank-and-file is wider now than ever (200-400x more, I think)
- it is not right that many of us make so much money we don’t even think about spending it, or even know how much exactly we have, while others have basic living expenses that outpace their wages
- it is not right that people die because they cannot afford medical insurance
- it is not right that single mothers working for very limited wages have to spend half a week’s pay for over-the-counter medicines
- it is not right that we have so little respect for people that we think we can pay them a wage that reduces them to living in inhumane circumstances
We can call a spade an implement for digging, or we can just simple say that this is evil. And - yes, I’m a Christian too - God will judge us for this sin.
That said, if I was counselling young people in school today, I would say the world is not fair, and you should never expect it to be. Get your education. Get your education. Get your education! It will improve your life.
And I would say to spouses: divorce will not only kill your relationship. It will not only scar your children for life. It will reduce you to poverty. All of the people profiled in this POV were divorced, and it adds greatly to the strain of trying to make a living.
May God make us thankful for what we have, and generous to those who have not been so blessed.
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And, PS: I’m glad to live in Canada, where anyone, anytime, anywhere, is guaranteed to get the medical care that he or she needs, to the best of our ability to provide it, regardless of the size of his or her bank account. Choosing not to help someone who is sick because they can’t afford medical care is revolting.
Tags: POV, PBS, waging a living, working poor, poverty, america, minimum wage, ceo compensation, social justice, health insurance, john koetsier
Is Chavez insane?
Well, if there was anydoubt at all, this should lay it to rest:
Visiting Venezuela President Hugo Chavez has denounced Israel’s recent attacks on Lebanon as “genocide,” likening its action to war crimes committed by Germany’s Nazi leader Adolf Hitler.
“Israel often criticizes Hitler … but they have done the same thing, perhaps even worse,” Chavez told reporters Friday in a briefing during his six-day visit to China.
Let’s see … kill 6 million people on purpose, versus kill about a thousand because you’re trying to stop the people who are shooting rockets at you (while surrounded by civilians). Is there any comparison there at all, either in quantity or quality? Not to any sane, balanced, and reasonable individual.
Every time Chavez opens his mouth he shows himself to be a bigger and better buffoon than the last time. I seriously doubt the US really is trying to overthrow his quasi-dictatorship, but I almost hope they would, just to shut this utter moron up.
Tags: chavez, venezuala, idiot, hitler, john koetsier
Lies, damn lies, and digital photography
OK, so it used to be lies, damn lies, and statistics.
(Reuters, AP, and NY Times photo fraud, explained, demonstrated, and eviscerated, in detail. More details: check out this video.)
Tags: reuters, fake, lie, NYtimes, AP, lebanon, israel, hezbollah, hizbullah, PR
2 reasons Chapters Indigo sucks
I sometimes shop at Chapters Indigo. But only when I have too … like when I get a gift certificate from IDC Canada for participating in one of their research studies.
I hate shopping there, because the site is always, without exception, slow. I have never had it respond quickly. Double plus annoying. Plus, the selection is never what you get at Amazon. And you can never find as much information about what you’re buying as at Amazon.
But 25 bucks is 25 bucks, so every month or so after dutifully filling out my survey, I head on over to Chapters to find something to blow it on.
And here are two things I particularly hate:
- the never-changing email address requirement
See that - you can’t change your email address. And yup, that’s the one I had three years ago. Yay. - the buy-more-or-we’ll-gouge-you-on-shipping shipping charges
Yes, that’s $8 in shipping for a DVD and a CD. In other words, almost 50% shipping. You can get free shipping, but only if you spend $40 or more … which I usually end up doing, thereby encouraging the perpetuation of the system I am now whining about. Hmmm.
Please, please, IDC: move to Amazon gift certificates.
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You know, I guess if you actually count all the reasons above, there’s actually 5 reasons why Chapters Indigo sucks. What can I say - bonus day at Sparkplug 9.
Funky Chinese patois
You can’t make stuff this good up:
“Let the hackle zipper cut in the drailing wheel, then draught at full tilt to upgrade, let the drailing wheel tunning hight speed, at this time set the product to evenness floor to go speed run.”
Also notice, under the name of the toy: “Playing must on the smoothness floor.”
But don’t worry, the toy itself is great. After all, it’s part of a “toys series with a strong sense for playing.”
Ahhh … language. Babelfish has got to be better than whoever mangled this translation.
Tables, tables, tables
What’s wrong with table based web design? Well, nothing, obviously:
Yum.
Of course, I realize that even if you’re using tables, you don’t have to turn the border feature on, but still … it’s not cool.
(The person whose site this is may be an incredibly wonderful “product coach,” for all I know. Just don’t go to him for web design. Or any design.)
Gun safety officer shoots himself in the foot (literally)
Very, very, very dumb gun safety officer. Click the play button:
You have to admit, the guy’s got guts. He must be pretty tough …. he tries to continue his speech. Unbelievable.
I don’t think I’d continue my speech after shooting myself in the foot.
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About
Sparkplug 9 is John Koetsier's blog on life, the universe, and everything,
but mostly the stuff you see big in the tags to the left.
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