Can the availability of movies, tv shows, music, books, and countless other downloads help to make us more/less honest?
This is the question swirling around my head as I read the various articles relating to SOPA and PIPA.
While reading an article about the Piracy Debate in today's NYTIMES I started to re-ask myself the question of "what is right, or wrong?" in this field. And by policing myself am I choosing my own level of honesty?
By and large, I'm a pretty "honest" guy when it comes to online material. The standard I've set for myself is pretty simple, albeit flawed: If I have previously purchased an item, be it a DVD, album, or book, I have no issue downloading it for free on the internet, or getting a copy from someone else. Furthermore, if I missed a show on television, like The Wire, when it first come on TV, I have no problem "illegally" downloading the show because I then, and currently, pay for HBO. Therefore, I could have watched it. And it's not like I'm putting someone out of work by not buying a physical copy of The Wire, etc.
Truth is, when I first purchased a CD, or record, I gave money to the artist, and all the other companies involved in getting that CD into my CD player. Even the oil company profited as I likely drove over to a store like CD World, and bought the CD. There's no reason I should buy it again.
EXCEPT...one could argue that overtime things do break, and if the CD or record was scratched, or broke, I would have to buy another. Yeah, that's true, but I answer that simply by saying: I don't give a shit. You got my money. I supported you. The same way I supported HBO, and still do.
Another criteria I try to stick to is whether, or not, I would ever buy a particular album, or watch a certain movie in the first place, if I couldn't get it for free. Truth is, if I'm going to watch a movie, or TV Show, then the answer is already implied. Take the show "Breaking Bad." I have AMC, and I missed the first 5 episodes of Season 1, so I downloaded them. I'm not going to buy them. That's insane. I'm just making viewing it easier for me. I wouldn't give the show away to others on CD, for if they care to watch it, they can make the effort.
I have a friend who gives me albums I would NEVER buy, like Thievery Corporation, MGMT, or Phoenix. "Dude, you gotta hear this album..." And then I do. If it's REALLY that good, I will go buy it. It's never that good. I've purchased every album Ghostface has recorded for the last 8 years. Every Malkmus album, I've bought. Every Radiohead album, I own it. Even after I've heard them all, I buy them.
BUT...if you're dead, like say, Johnny Cash, do I feel the need to give money to the Cash estate? I'm not so sure I do. And this is where the question of my own internet-morality comes into play. There's a great chance I'm not going to give someone who's dead any money because I don't know his/her family. Maybe if I've heard some heart-wrenching story about the family, or the money goes to a cause, MAYBE. Short of that, not likely.
Finally, there's the one thing I do steal pretty consistently: UFC Pay-Per-View events. Yep, I do that. Why do you ask? Well, probably because I feel a sense of entitlement.
For one thing, I work in the field, and really do need to see most of the fights. People are willing to send me copies of the events, but not until the following week. I don't want to wait. I can usually find the event for free at a local bar as well, but I often don't want to go out. AND THE REALLY BIG PART OF IT ALL, I DON'T WANT TO PAY $60 FOR A DICE ROLL! The events cost waaaaay too much, for the number of events that are run, regardless of how many are free. The best ones are often pay events. So, I steal them, or watch them the next day on various websites.
How do I justify this? No different from anything else. If I wasn't able to get it for free then I wouldn't watch it at all. That's a fact. I know this because this is what happens every time I can't watch it.
Is it honest? Not sure. I do know that in handling things this way, at the very least I'm maintaining and interest, which in turn has a value, so I'm cool with it.
In other words, and after a lot of words, sometimes there's no harm in "stealing." Contrary to what the Motion Picture Association of America, or any other group wants to label these practices, it's not the same as "shoplifting." It just isn't.
Thursday, February 09, 2012
Tuesday, February 07, 2012
Thoughts on the World
The IPO for Facebook is SOOO excited...if you're rich. I heard a Business School Professor from Dartmouth saying Facebook would need to grow at 30% a year for the next decade for this to be a good "long term" investment. For whatever reason that's not a gamble I'd be willing to take.
"Really, dude, you don't think Facebook is going to get bigger, stronger, fast, and just generally more awesome?"
No, I don't. Maybe I'll be wrong, but I just don't see it, and my reasoning is based completely on nonsense. But then again, wars get started for less.
Here's my thought: People like new things. People like to be different. People like to say, "Yeah, I'm over that. I'm doing Faceslap now, it's so much better. When someone writes something really annoying under the terms of the user agreement I have the right to slap the shit out of them next time I see them, even if it is her wedding..."
But again, people like to get out of one thing, and into something else, especially Americans. As a people we generally don't like to be dominated by an entity, even if we are under the leviathan. Pretending we get to make choices that really change the makeup of our lives, like choosing Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, or the next thing, and how that makes us different, is something we NEED as FREE Americans. So I believe SOMETHING is going to change. Even if Facebook continually gets better, more useful, people still want "something else." That's us.
The FB IPO has been compared to Google's nonstop since the news broke, and for obvious reasons, but to me Google is a better investment. Again, if you see smoke started to engulf me it is coming straight out of my ass, but this is what I believe.
Google's initial core business isn't something I'm subscribing to, or signing into, putting aside mail, docs, and other functions. Google is a SEARCH engine, and they do it very well. Like Facebook they're using information to target users, BUT, Google just provides me information; it's a tool which helps me advance whatever it is I'm doing. For me, Facebook doesn't do that. It's pretty much just a place I post "status" updates, in different forms, and a website where I waste time. Google isn't wasting my time, but Facebook sorta easy. Most of the time when I"m using Google products I'm actually working. Contrast this with Facebook, wherein I'm usually not.
This isn't to say Facebook cannot change because clearly they're planning to. More and more people every day are launching apps and business off of the FB platform, so there's no doubt in my mind it will transform. I just don't know I believe in 30% growth for a decade, is all.
To lend support to my own belief, sorta-like-a self-fulfilling-type-thing, I actually find myself looking to use Google+ more. It's less used than Facebook, seems more simple, and it's "new." We all love that. Even though Google is dominant in so many ways, I'm actually leaning toward them just because! And they're begging for it with commercials!
Anyway...
--
Who doesn't want to see a Rick Santorum vs Barack Obama Battle Royale? Does he not represent all that conservatives believe in more than any other candidate? The same token, Obama is supposedly the "worst president ever", representing "everything that's wrong with America." So why isn't Santorum getting the full push? What's with this "electable" crap?
I want Stu Grimson versus Bob Probert, no? That's what we should want! Lets have it out in the center of the ice, goddamnit!
--
It's kinda funny people can't admit they want to be Romney.
He's got tons of cash, doesn't give a shit about anyway, hangs out in the Vineyard, and follows a religion where he can bang as many chicks as he wants. I mean, seriously? Have you seen his hair? The more I lose, the more he gains.
And the dude can sing.
Just admit that he represents all that is the American male: makes cash, is white, has sons, doesn't give a shit about anyone. I mean, we're always hoping for the honest politician, and this guy is BRINGING IT IN SPADES!
Check. Check. Check.
Gingrich? Really? Santorum? Really? Ron Paul? Really? Not even they want to be themselves. One sleeps with a fetus, one's a retarded doctor, and the other is a weeble-wobble who bangs McCain's wife.
MittTwentyForever.org - "Cause America Wants to be Me"
--
I love the Giants.
I don't love Brandon Jacobs.
Pound for pound the weakest runner in football, contrasted with pound for pound, the second toughest runner in football, Ahmad Bradshaw (Sproles is #1).
2nd and 1 in the first half, and this dude can't get a yard. Next play a weak holding call, but whatever, bro, get the yard. And it's EVERY GAME.
Brandon Jacobs cannot get 2 yards when you need them. When/If he breaks through the line, then he's very hard to bring down because at that point he has leverage on his man, and a head of steam. Chrisian Okoye he is not.
He's got to go.
Please, someone give Ricky Williams the number to a weed delivery guy, and ask him to join the Giants for one more season, or at least until we can get a real short-yardage back. Hopefully the Giants draft Polk from Washington, Martin from Boise, or even Herron from Ohio State. These guys can get a damn yard.
Do not fear, though, because BJ is weighing in on the Giselle issue, telling her to "be cute and shut up." Seriously, guy, that's what you're thinking about today? Is your head ever in the game? Telling another guy's wife what to do?
I'm a huge Giants fan, and I remember when he left Auburn because of Caddy Williams and Ronnie Brown. And I remember when he was at SIU, and the Giants took him. I was excited. Now I'm excited to see him leave.
--
Finally, the game itself.
Eli is a legend.
If you know me, you are aware I have believed in Eli as a superstar sine Ole Miss. Ernie Accorsi, you and I think alike.
Newsflash: Eli 2 Rivers 0.
"Yeah, but it was a good deal for the Chargers too! They got Rivers!"
I am a tremendous fan of Phil Rivers, and have had the opportunity to spend time with him, get to know him a bit. He's one of the classiest people I've ever met, and that's not hyperbole.
As a football player, Eli Manning he is not.
Throwing the ball behind the head of the best linebacker in the AFC? Yeah, why not. It's only the Superbowl.
He's got more balls than his brother.
Peyton Manning came into the NFL with happy feet, always shuffling them around, going pitter-patter. Eli Manning's feet have always been calm. He may back foot it in the face of the heat, but he's the Most Valuable Cucumber around.
--
No, Tom Brady isn't "done." To think people are really suggesting this. I know he hasn't won a Superbowl since the knee injury, but he GETS TO THE SUPERBOWL.
Look at who he's throwing to. You only know who Gronkowski, Welker, Hernandez, and Branch are because they're on Brady's team! Like Julian Edelman and Danny Woodhead would even be in the NFL if not for Brady and Belicheck?
Just stop it. The guy is a hail mary away from being "better than Montana."
--
Jeremy Lin is good.
Any player who can control the flow of a basketball game, regardless of his/her own speed is a good player. He's not the fastest guy on the court, but the game goes at the speed he wants it to, and that's what matters.
He couldn't make it in Golden State because the backcourt was loaded there. The Knicks have no backcourt. It's like the same reason Danny Woodhead was cut from the Jets, but not the Patriots. It's a need thing.
I really can see Lin bringing this Knicks team together because their biggest problem is no one receives the ball comfortably in an area they can shoot. Lin delivers the ball well, gets in the paint, and creates opportunities.
This could happen. Maybe...
If teams catch on, he could fall quick. I'm going Long-On-Lin.
--
Kentucky. Period.
--
I said it first: Chane Behanan, Power Forward, Louisville, the next Antonio Gates.
Here's him in dunking.
6'6", 255, can run. Can't be NBA Star.
"Really, dude, you don't think Facebook is going to get bigger, stronger, fast, and just generally more awesome?"
No, I don't. Maybe I'll be wrong, but I just don't see it, and my reasoning is based completely on nonsense. But then again, wars get started for less.
Here's my thought: People like new things. People like to be different. People like to say, "Yeah, I'm over that. I'm doing Faceslap now, it's so much better. When someone writes something really annoying under the terms of the user agreement I have the right to slap the shit out of them next time I see them, even if it is her wedding..."
But again, people like to get out of one thing, and into something else, especially Americans. As a people we generally don't like to be dominated by an entity, even if we are under the leviathan. Pretending we get to make choices that really change the makeup of our lives, like choosing Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, or the next thing, and how that makes us different, is something we NEED as FREE Americans. So I believe SOMETHING is going to change. Even if Facebook continually gets better, more useful, people still want "something else." That's us.
The FB IPO has been compared to Google's nonstop since the news broke, and for obvious reasons, but to me Google is a better investment. Again, if you see smoke started to engulf me it is coming straight out of my ass, but this is what I believe.
Google's initial core business isn't something I'm subscribing to, or signing into, putting aside mail, docs, and other functions. Google is a SEARCH engine, and they do it very well. Like Facebook they're using information to target users, BUT, Google just provides me information; it's a tool which helps me advance whatever it is I'm doing. For me, Facebook doesn't do that. It's pretty much just a place I post "status" updates, in different forms, and a website where I waste time. Google isn't wasting my time, but Facebook sorta easy. Most of the time when I"m using Google products I'm actually working. Contrast this with Facebook, wherein I'm usually not.
This isn't to say Facebook cannot change because clearly they're planning to. More and more people every day are launching apps and business off of the FB platform, so there's no doubt in my mind it will transform. I just don't know I believe in 30% growth for a decade, is all.
To lend support to my own belief, sorta-like-a self-fulfilling-type-thing, I actually find myself looking to use Google+ more. It's less used than Facebook, seems more simple, and it's "new." We all love that. Even though Google is dominant in so many ways, I'm actually leaning toward them just because! And they're begging for it with commercials!
Anyway...
--
Who doesn't want to see a Rick Santorum vs Barack Obama Battle Royale? Does he not represent all that conservatives believe in more than any other candidate? The same token, Obama is supposedly the "worst president ever", representing "everything that's wrong with America." So why isn't Santorum getting the full push? What's with this "electable" crap?
I want Stu Grimson versus Bob Probert, no? That's what we should want! Lets have it out in the center of the ice, goddamnit!
--
It's kinda funny people can't admit they want to be Romney.
He's got tons of cash, doesn't give a shit about anyway, hangs out in the Vineyard, and follows a religion where he can bang as many chicks as he wants. I mean, seriously? Have you seen his hair? The more I lose, the more he gains.
And the dude can sing.
Just admit that he represents all that is the American male: makes cash, is white, has sons, doesn't give a shit about anyone. I mean, we're always hoping for the honest politician, and this guy is BRINGING IT IN SPADES!
Check. Check. Check.
Gingrich? Really? Santorum? Really? Ron Paul? Really? Not even they want to be themselves. One sleeps with a fetus, one's a retarded doctor, and the other is a weeble-wobble who bangs McCain's wife.
MittTwentyForever.org - "Cause America Wants to be Me"
--
I love the Giants.
I don't love Brandon Jacobs.
Pound for pound the weakest runner in football, contrasted with pound for pound, the second toughest runner in football, Ahmad Bradshaw (Sproles is #1).
2nd and 1 in the first half, and this dude can't get a yard. Next play a weak holding call, but whatever, bro, get the yard. And it's EVERY GAME.
Brandon Jacobs cannot get 2 yards when you need them. When/If he breaks through the line, then he's very hard to bring down because at that point he has leverage on his man, and a head of steam. Chrisian Okoye he is not.
He's got to go.
Please, someone give Ricky Williams the number to a weed delivery guy, and ask him to join the Giants for one more season, or at least until we can get a real short-yardage back. Hopefully the Giants draft Polk from Washington, Martin from Boise, or even Herron from Ohio State. These guys can get a damn yard.
Do not fear, though, because BJ is weighing in on the Giselle issue, telling her to "be cute and shut up." Seriously, guy, that's what you're thinking about today? Is your head ever in the game? Telling another guy's wife what to do?
I'm a huge Giants fan, and I remember when he left Auburn because of Caddy Williams and Ronnie Brown. And I remember when he was at SIU, and the Giants took him. I was excited. Now I'm excited to see him leave.
--
Finally, the game itself.
Eli is a legend.
If you know me, you are aware I have believed in Eli as a superstar sine Ole Miss. Ernie Accorsi, you and I think alike.
Newsflash: Eli 2 Rivers 0.
"Yeah, but it was a good deal for the Chargers too! They got Rivers!"
I am a tremendous fan of Phil Rivers, and have had the opportunity to spend time with him, get to know him a bit. He's one of the classiest people I've ever met, and that's not hyperbole.
As a football player, Eli Manning he is not.
Throwing the ball behind the head of the best linebacker in the AFC? Yeah, why not. It's only the Superbowl.
He's got more balls than his brother.
Peyton Manning came into the NFL with happy feet, always shuffling them around, going pitter-patter. Eli Manning's feet have always been calm. He may back foot it in the face of the heat, but he's the Most Valuable Cucumber around.
--
No, Tom Brady isn't "done." To think people are really suggesting this. I know he hasn't won a Superbowl since the knee injury, but he GETS TO THE SUPERBOWL.
Look at who he's throwing to. You only know who Gronkowski, Welker, Hernandez, and Branch are because they're on Brady's team! Like Julian Edelman and Danny Woodhead would even be in the NFL if not for Brady and Belicheck?
Just stop it. The guy is a hail mary away from being "better than Montana."
--
Jeremy Lin is good.
Any player who can control the flow of a basketball game, regardless of his/her own speed is a good player. He's not the fastest guy on the court, but the game goes at the speed he wants it to, and that's what matters.
He couldn't make it in Golden State because the backcourt was loaded there. The Knicks have no backcourt. It's like the same reason Danny Woodhead was cut from the Jets, but not the Patriots. It's a need thing.
I really can see Lin bringing this Knicks team together because their biggest problem is no one receives the ball comfortably in an area they can shoot. Lin delivers the ball well, gets in the paint, and creates opportunities.
This could happen. Maybe...
If teams catch on, he could fall quick. I'm going Long-On-Lin.
--
Kentucky. Period.
--
I said it first: Chane Behanan, Power Forward, Louisville, the next Antonio Gates.
Here's him in dunking.
6'6", 255, can run. Can't be NBA Star.
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