Well, here’s another general update, in the form of a video blog entry. You’ll notice some lag in the video/sound timing; that’s because I was running too many applications on the computer. Also, the CamTwist app that I use for some effects is an unbelievable resource hog! Hopefully I’ll make more vids soon! (Side note: I may have to expand/organize my video section of this site!!)

Cheers!

Download Uproar: Record Industry Goes After Personal Use – washingtonpost.com

Lemme get this straight… I buy an album from my favorite band. Or it’s a gift for Christmas. Whatever. I want to have the music on my iPod. It may not be available for download from iTunes or Amazon or wherever you get legal paid downloads. So I rip the songs from the CD to the computer to put the songs on said iPod.

And that makes me guilty of breaking copyright law!!!???

The songs aren’t even in any folder that can be accessed by a file-sharing network, FTP application or even the one other computer that’s connected locally! How the heck can having a personal copy of a CD I bought or rightfully acquired, somewhere where only I have rightful access to it, be considered copyright infringement!?

It seems that the RIAA are hell-bent on making enemies of the entire United States music consumer base. I hope a ruling comes soon that will rule in favor of the consumer, and the fact that the consumer spends their hard-earned money to do what they please with music they bought, within reasonable limits of fair use!

In other words, making a copy for the act of listening on a portable device that the same consumer owns should be considered very fair use! I know that they are talking about files stored on the computer, and not necessarily a portable device, but it’s the same difference when the RIAA is saying any copy is illegal!

That’s all I can say or stomach for now!

Intelligence deputy to America: Rethink privacy – CNN.com

I don’t have the time today to pick apart this article. I will endeavor to do this tomorrow.

I will say this… after reading the article, it brought me one step closer to contacting any congressman I can find and trust. I will NOT stand for what Director Donald Kerr is proposing.

… that they get to have the equivalent of Monopoly’s “Get Out Of Jail Free” card!

Here’s the revenge of the Esoterik News Of The Weekâ„¢:

Lindsay Lohan Gets One Day In Jail (Drunk Driving and Cocaine Possession)

Nicole Richie Serves 82 Minutes in Jail (Driving While Under Drug Influence)

I saw these articles yesterday. At first I couldn’t believe it, but then I thought of Paris Hilton’s recent “brush” with the slammer. Actually, if I were Paris, I’d be rather pissed off that my fellow celeb girlies got less time than I got, which wasn’t much really. In fact, ABC.com just made my blood boil by releasing this article early this morning:

Celebs Get Off Easily… Just Like Everyone Else?

“Some say they’re getting off easy, but as it turns out, drunk driving sentences across the country may be more lenient than many think…”

“…After all, legal experts say, famous or not, getting off easy is the norm across the country when it comes to driving under the influence. ‘If you really want to deter this conduct, they’re going to have to make the penalty part more serious,’ said Mary Fulginiti, ABC News’ legal correspondent. ‘You can have three D.U.I.’s in the state of California and it’s still not a felony. So it’s really a little outrageous, and things do need to change.’”

WHAT??!! All I saw in that article was about California’s legal ease! They talk about the whole country being lenient, and all they mention is California?! BULLCRAP!! I think anyone would be hard-pressed to find anyone else in this country, who is not a celebrity, who got off doing time as easily as these chicks did. (I use “chicks” in the sense that they don’t deserve to be called “ladies”) If anyone else got caught doing what they did, they’d most likely be looking at sentences ranging from 90 days to a year. Not including all the fines, fees and community service. I know Lohan got sentenced to community service too, but I betcha she won’t even be required to serve much or any of that either!

Recently, I got a ticket in the mail. A camera caught me, in June, making a right-hand turn at 12 mph, against a red light. I remember this incident, because it was one of the very few times in my life I had ever blown a red, and I DID try stopping. It was 10:20 at night, no one on the road but me and the wife. I couldn’t succeed in stopping in time, so I figured “nobody else coming, might as well go through”. Go back to now. You know what I got for this simple infraction? I had to pay $195 USD and I also have to go to Traffic Survival school for a day in October. With love, The Avondale AZPD. I also should mention that I haven’t had so much as even a parking ticket in more than five years. I betcha, if the three previously mentioned “ladies” (upchuck) had done the same as I, they wouldn’t have to pay a red American cent!!

As someone put it recently, The American legal system is just about legalities, loopholes and payoffs. There are exceptions, but it’s not about justice anymore!

Side note: As I typed that last sentence, I was listening to “Pilot In The Sky Of Dreams” by Threshold. The line that was playing is the kicker for this rant:

“… But now, I’m disenchanted. You endure my disaffection. All my systems running red, the radio is down and there’s trouble ahead!”

How very well put! Cheers!!

I’m sorry to break a promise to myself and my audience. However, due to a combination of not much happening in the news and too much happening in my own life, I’ll have to resume the Esoterik News Of The Weekâ„¢ next Sunday, April 8th. Thank you very much for understanding. Also, I will not do what I previously said with the squirrel and the big cojoñes.

Now… excuse me while I pass out!