The evolution of the portable mp3 player and p2p file-shares have mixed things up quite a bit. The music video channels and the media conglomerates are reeling, and garage bands who would have never made it out of the garage are touring the world, and rocking out. It’s a quiet revolution, where the local radio station isn’t the only influence, and neither is MTV. It’s grass-roots, it’s social, and it’s totally organic. Being such, it cannot be controlled by an overseeing force. Companies *can* profit, but they cannot corner the market. ISP’s can sell it, but they can’t cast a net over a large chunk, and call it their own, truthfully.

It’s now happening with all media, and a lot of the news attention has shifted to the movies and video sector.

the Creative Commons license is getting very popular, and provides for artists getting their music to the masses without a governing monopoly, as well as for options to allow other artists to base new creations on the originals, including a re-mix-friendly license.

if you are looking for legal downloads of mp3′s there are a number of links on the cc site, including this one.

BTW, For those who haven’t heard it, the new Tom Petty album is out. Another in along line of excellent road trip CD’s. Every track has a mood, and a progressive beat, and very personal lyrics. WTG, Tom!

I upgraded the blog to WordPress 2.0, lovingly dubbed “Duke” by the coding team. The upgrade was a snap, no plugin snafus, and the admin interface got a major makover. Tis pretty swank. If you’re hesitating the upgrade, get off your butt and click it!

The issues with the heat in my house are all resolved. Again. For the moment. We’ll see. We got a new outside unit, and it is working much better than ever before. It hasn’t been cold since we got it all settled, though. I’m thinking of going ahead with a new thermostat and getting some programmable sensors as well.

I scored some used laser printers and jetdirect devices from work. The price was cheap. And cheap is close to free. And you can’t beat free. I need to fish some network lines around the house for convenience and high-speed data flow… :]

BTW, the first comment that quotes the famous Fark adage about Duke will earn a special ass-whoopin’.

I have a pet peeve. I know. I’m full of them, and everyone has them.

But this is my page, so just deal.

It’s very bothersome when I overhear people talking about their plans or recounting events that take place on the 24th of December. The phrases that come immediately to mind include:

“We’re getting together on Christmas Eve night.”
“Cristmas Eve morning, we’ll go for breakfast and shopping.”
“His flight arrives Christmas Eve day.”

I just have to say that “Christmas Eve” is tantamount to “the evening of December 24th”! It is not a modifier for the entire day, nor is it a required dangling attachment weighing down your sentences like a boat anchor tied to a cloud.

saying that you will “get together on Christmas Eve” will suffice. Or the “morning of Christmas Eve”, or even “the 24th” or “Saturday”. The jumbled knot of extra verbiage doesn’t make sense, conveys no meaning, and sounds horrible.

BTW,

According to HowStuffWorks:

Why is the day before Christmas, Christmas Eve, celebrated?
Christmas Eve is a big deal for religious reasons, such as the midnight mass, and also for retail reasons. 1867 was the first year that Macy’s department store in New York City remained open until midnight on Christmas Eve.

A HowStuffWorks reader was also kind enough to point out the following: “All Jewish holidays start at sundown the evening before (not at calendar midnight). Our holidays start with ceremony the evening before: rituals, candle-lighting, whatever… at sundown and they last until the following sundown, and then they’re over.”