Archive for February, 2007

Date: February 28th, 2007, Filed under Repudiate Copyright

From a slashdot article titled DRM Free Music is Everywhere, I posted this reply, titled DRM hurts, copyright hurts - recording = marketing
:

As a very very small music producer (basically, I give bands money to record or tour, and I hope to recoup some of that investment in the future), I work very hard to get the bands I finance to repudiate not just DRM but copyright in general. Small bands have no real reason for either — recording music is just a marketing process to try to get people to come to your shows. Sure, without copyright, some big producer might steal your lyrics and music and have the newest pop boy band re-record it, but this too would just be a great marketing tactic — the Internet would jump all over it.

Small bands need to give their recorded music away freely online in order to get more people to come to their shows. My brother’s band Maps & Atlases just went on a 7 day tour to the East Coast and ended up in a tiny university town called East Stroudsburg, PA. Instead of showing up to no crowd, the venue was packed — a rarity for the town and venue. Why did this happen? Maps & Atlases released their EP for free online. They sold out of their first EP (2000 copies) during their 2006 tour, and they’re coming up fast on selling out their second pressing, even though the music is easily downloaded online. Why do fans pay for albums? They get face time with the band, they get autographs, and they know that buying the merch direct will keep the band writing and touring.

Read this entire article at the repudiate copyright site.

Comments: none

Date: February 26th, 2007, Filed under G.U.N. Updates

A few weeks ago I motivated my Luddite-father to buy a Mac laptop. He is hard of sight, but he’s been using Windows PCs for the 3 years he’s been using a PC (he’s 65 and just started using a PC at 62). I was so tired of reinstalling his OS and trying to help him remotely that I figured a Mac is the right way to go.

I’ve always loved Apple’s interface and hardware, but it never ran all the software I needed to. Now that my business life is more about management than production, I’ve been considering a Mac laptop to replace my variety of PC desktops and laptops (I use able 6 different PCs for all my tasks). I’m considering their highest end laptop (about $2800 if I am correct) to replace everything.

For those power-users who have made the transition to the Mac world, what was your biggest frustration? I’d love to know.

Feel free to discuss this at the Unanimocracy General Discussion forum, or e-mail me directly.

Comments: none

Date: February 26th, 2007, Filed under Be a Man

Since rebirthing this site, I’ve started to receive more e-mails than ever before — thanks to StumbleUpon and other collaborative networks. I appreciate all your e-mails and questions, and even your criticisms and complaints.

Last week I received quite a few critical e-mails from both friends and people who were new to the site. The most common criticism is reports of men who told me that their relationships with their wives broke all the rules in the beginning, and their relationships are fine. I’d like to address these criticisms with my experience of dealing with women in my 18 years since becoming a man.

Read this entire article at the be a man site.

Comments: none

Date: February 26th, 2007, Filed under Anarcho-capitalism

Ron Paul conveyed his usual pro-liberty stance at a variety of public appearances in New Hampshire the weekend of February 25th, 2007. The Union Leader (a conservative paper) had some surprisingly proper things to say about him:

Paul - who had been in New Hampshire since Thursday - found himself treated like a rock star at yesterday’s event, and a couple of hundred people were on hand to hear him speak at the Free State Project’s New Hampshire Liberty Forum. About half the 350 people who attended the days-long conference, at the Holiday Inn on North Main Street, were from New Hampshire, organizers said.

Read this entire article at the anarcho-capitalism site.

Comments: none

Date: February 25th, 2007, Filed under Anarcho-capitalism

The same person who asked me some questions in my previous post titled Will anarcho-capitalism devolve into Feudalism? asked some more questions via e-mail today:

I’m trying to define self-defense and the defense of those unable to defend themselves as acceptable. It tends to be quite problematic because of how many loopholes etc there are.

Read this entire article at the anarcho-capitalism site.

Comments: none

Date: February 23rd, 2007, Filed under Housing Bubble

Read today’s foreclosure report at the foreclosure site

Comments: none