Archive for the 'news and things' Category

Are You the Dope Paying For Everyone Else?


One of the interesting subtexts of the “FREE!” revolution is in order for musicians, artists, whoever to make a living, income still has to be generated. Since musicians are no longer suppose to sell their music on shiny plastic discs, and because of infinite distribution, the question comes up: How does a [...]

NAPCAR: The NASCAR Collapse Continues

Written by alex, under news and things
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Well, two races into the 2010 season, and NASCAR, aka NAPCAR, is already showing some serious signs of crumbling at it’s foundations. The sheer volume of empty seats in California this past weekend, even noted on the NASCAR.COM site, shows that things are not all good and going to plan.
Over the winter, all [...]

Captain Phil Harris, F/V Cornelia Marie, RIP


As a long time fan of the Deadliest Catch, since the time before the show existed as was just part of the a Dangerous Jobs series, it saddens me to report that Captain Phil Harris, the gruff but loving master of the F/V Cornelia Marie passed away on February 9th, as a result of complications [...]

Lou Dobbs Quits CNN (again)


While it may be a shocker to some, the “resignation” of Lou Dobbs from CNN has pretty much been a foregone conclusion for a while. CNN as a network is floundering badly these days, unsure of it’s direction. But Lou Dobbs has been sure of his direction, going from a reasonably friendly Newsy [...]

Tom Cruise Dead? Nope Just a Little Weird


It’s almost a traditional thing now, the Tom Cruise dead rumors seem to come up about two or three times a year, more often when he is doing something nutty. Recent stories have peopel from inside his camp reporting on his weeks of trying to use his Scientology powers to dominate door knobs [...]

NASCAR gets Boring, Complains When People Notice


I have been a lifelong racing fan, I can remember watching the highlights of NASCAR races on Wide World of Sports long before it became an every week, 12 hours per day extravaganza that is it today. In the last few years I have been less and less enamored with the product, and thought [...]

Another Wild OverReach by the Guru of Free


I really enjoy reading the Techdirt blog mostly because it’s fun to watch Mike Masnick tie himself in knots trying to prove things. He is forever posting very speculative things, drawing conclusions that just aren’t obvious, and then to solidify these masterpieces of logic, he then quotes and links them in later posts, [...]

Supply, Demand, Piracy, and the little lies of Free


One of the more interesting debates I have gotten into recently is one regarding the laws of supply and demand (and cost) for movies and music in the current market. It’s an interesting debate mostly because the “guru of FREE!” Mike Masnick is involved, which means that we are in for some truly fun [...]

Drudgereport Slants the News


Over the last few years, much has been made about the move to “online media”, and that traditional media, from newspapers to radio to television were all doomed as the new wave on online reporters and citizen journalists would take over. Even behemoth CNN has taken to using it’s Ireport setup to take stories [...]

the good enuf rvlutn


I have discovered more and more I read the flailing Wired magazine the same way I read The Onion, mostly for a laugh at the outrageous and humorous things that appear there.  In the Sept 2009 edition (their 17.09), they have once again gone down the road of attempting to jump in from on a [...]

Report: Castor Semenya is a Both


Well, this is certainly one for the “should have been obvious” file. South African “female” running star Caster Semenya has apparently tested as a Hermaphrodite, which is to say that she really isn’t a she, but more of a both. Accord to the report in The Sun (UK), the runner has no internal [...]

Perez Hilton Gets More than Black Eye Over Michael Jackson Attack


it hasn’t been a very good week for Perez Hilton, the screen name for flamboyant “blogger” Mario Lavandeira. First off, he gets into a scuffle in Toronto with Members of the Black Eyed Peas, calls one of them a “f-ggot”, and get whacked upside the head and gets a black eye as a result. [...]

Perez Hilton Insults Dying Michael Jackson


Quite simply, I am shocked and dismays. As many of us who grew up in the 70s and 80s, I didn’t really like Michael Jackson’s music (rock guy here) but still had respect for this work. We all watched as he went through his creepy, reclusive stage, and deep down we cheered as [...]

Under The Hood of FREE!


Welcome to the third part of my look at the world of “FREE!” as proposed and pushed by a few pundits and online bloggers as the future of stuff. I am particularly focused on Chris Anderson’s new book “FREE!”, because it is leading the charge of misinformation, similar to his book The Long Tail. [...]

The Lie Of Free Continues


If you believe the buzz, if you are foolish enough to fall for the gurus, then you probably think that “FREE!” is the next best thing in marketing. As I mentioned last time out, Chris Anderson of Wired is coming out with a new book about “FREE!”, which oddly has been very slow to [...]