| Is it any wonder why I pirate... |
[Nov. 3rd, 2009|10:59 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  annoyed | ] |
Two examples:
A few weeks ago ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) sucideluvkitty and I were listening to an MP3 of one of Paul Oakenfold's Urban Soundtracks. Basically they are audio books which have music mixed in throughout them. They are really very pretty. Since the copy of the one we had was incomplete, and since there were others out there, we decided we wanted to purchase, them.
I emphasize this point purchase... I mean, we now have enough income that we can do this. Support the work of various artists. But guess what? We could not find them for purchase. Sure the "buy" option off imeem directed us to iTunes and Amazon, but his Urban Soundtracks were nowhere to be found.
We were, however, able to fine a nice torrent of all but one of his Urban Soundtracks.
So in other words, it's easier to torrent something we were perfectly willing to purchase, because there was no option to purchase.
It gets better.
There is a very pretty song Oakenfold uses in a few of his soundtrack pieces. I decided I wanted to own it so I could listen to it on my MP3 player. After a little bit of research I was able to track down the title of song, and I was even able to find it on Amazon.
And I purchased it.
And I placed on my MP3 player.
It would not play.
I tried deleting and reloading it to my MP3 player a couple of times. Same result.
I found a torrent which contained the song I purchased. Since I am using one of those nice, sophisticated pieces of software, I was able to download just that one song.
I put it on my MP3 player.
It plays.
Is it any wonder why I pirate, when pirating actually gets me working results more easily and more consistently than trying to legitimately purchase? |
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| Shepard Fairey, Plagerist? |
[Oct. 30th, 2009|12:30 pm] |
In the ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/community.gif) politicartoons group, capthek posted a link and brief discussion about the accusations of plagiarism surrounding the artist Shepard Fairey. Fairy is the artist accredited with making the famous Hope posters for President Obama's 2008 campaign, as well as the person behind the Obey marketing campaign*
Link to the politicartoons post
The original article: Obey Plagiarist Shepard Fairey: A critique by artist Mark Vallen
TD;DR summary: It appears to various artists that Shepard Fairey is plagiarizing and making a great deal of money off it. In particular he seems to be appropriating images from various activist and revolutionary movements, twisting or distorting the messages they putting fort, and making money off them. And doing so while refusing to give credit to where these images originally came from. My suspicion is that Fairey might have thought he could get away with it because most of the images date from the first half of the 20th Century; from places like China, the Soviet Union, and Latin America; and/or come from movements which have become unpopular or carry a lot of misconceptions about them.
* When some one starts aligning oneself with Levi's, Nike and Times Square, I have difficulty calling it anything more than a marking campaign. |
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| thoughts |
[Oct. 17th, 2009|08:22 am] |
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Woke up this morning thinking about a former lover. I hope she is okay. I have no way of contacting her. |
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| flu paranioa |
[Sep. 30th, 2009|09:28 am] |
has hit our office because one person was sick
*sigh*
this means I'm going to have to be breathing in the toxic fumes of lysol as the germaphobes spray everything down |
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| Wii |
[Sep. 17th, 2009|08:20 pm] |
sophia_daniels got a Wii recently. Our friend code is: 0424 0275 3852 9924
She also got WiiFit. My Wii age is 30. hehheh *smiles* |
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| TSA BS |
[Aug. 17th, 2009|04:40 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | aggravated | ] |
The Transportation Security Administration is now requiring airlines to supply gender information - along with legal and name and date of birth - of passengers. This is supposedly to help streamline the watch list matching process and reduce the number of errors.
However, ir brings up a number special concerns to transsexual and transgender people looking to book flights.
From the TSA Blog entry Secure Flight Q&A II
TSA requires you to provide your full name, date of birth, and gender for the purpose of watch list screening, under the authority of 49 U.S.C. section 114, the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 and 49 C.F.R parts 1540 and 1560. You may also provide your Redress Number, if available. Failure to provide your full name, date of birth, and gender may result in denial of transport or denial of authority to enter the boarding area.
and
Q: What effect will the requirement to ask about sex ... What effect will the requirement to ask about sex have on transgendered persons? I can see many incredibly humiliating scenarios coming forward where someone's biological sex (appearing on their gov't issued ID) seems not to match their visible gender markers or how they'd like to be identified.
A: Under Secure Flight, passengers will be required to provide their name, gender, and date of birth when making a reservation to fly. The gender provided when making the reservation should match the gender indicated on the passenger’s government-issued identification.
Once the passenger has made the reservation, their information will be sent to Secure Flight to perform watch list matching. If the passenger is cleared, there will be no further need to provide gender information from that point forward for purposes of the Secure Flight program. While the passenger may be required to provide an ID at the security checkpoint, this process is not a part of the Secure Flight program. (See last paragraph
In the event that the individual is deemed a potential match to the watch list, that individual will need to go through the resolution process which occurs at the airport. At the ticket counter (or in some cases at an airport kiosk), name, date of birth, and gender information are taken directly from the passenger’s government-issued ID and submitted to Secure Flight.
But what happens if the gender presentation of a person does not match their government-issued identification? What happens if different government-issued identification has different genders listed? What happens when a person changes the gender makers on their government issued identification?
What a mess. |
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| Suggestions for PDF and doc readers? |
[Aug. 16th, 2009|12:54 pm] |
I want some suggestions out there about hand held devices that can read PDFs, read and edit document and text formats and view image files. If it were at all possible, I would love something I can load with a cbr or cbz veiwer as well. But I realize that might not be doable.
So what is out there people like? |
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| Craven Cowardice |
[Aug. 13th, 2009|07:19 pm] |
On July 29th, 2009, the science fiction writer johncwright wrote a post entitled "More Diversity and More Perversity in the Future!" in which he bemoans the Sci-Fi Channel's intent of including more homosexual characters in their programming and spewing forth all sort of same old, tired hate speech about homosexuals, homosexuality, liberals, and so forth.
After getting like eight or nine pages of replies today, which included some fantastic, well written rebuttals by folks such as bifemmefatale, lupabitch and circuit_four, John C. Wright deleted and blocked the comments to the entry, and proceeded to add further friend only comment restrictions on his journal.
I am only posting about this because fandom has had long history of white male heterosexual conservative asses. Do we need to give any more of them more play or attention? For those who are involved with the convention scene or have the ears of con chairs, please consider the sort of attitudes and views this author brings with him, and ask are these the attitudes we want to promote in fandom? |
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| Anger |
[Aug. 10th, 2009|08:15 pm] |
a lot of scary anger issues today
dont know where it is coming from
:( |
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| Call for Submissions- Double Edge: The Intersection of Transgender and BDSM |
[Jul. 19th, 2009|03:45 pm] |
This was posted by passionandsoul. I am passing it on as well. This call is from Raven Kaldera - contact info below
Call For Submissions:
Double Edge: The Intersection of Transgender and BDSM
I’m looking to interview transgendered perverts of all sorts for this book, over email if we can’t meet face to face. I’m looking for people who openly identify as transgendered in the BDSM communities they move in, and how that identity affects their partners and their activities. I’m looking for people who shapeshifted their bodies and transitioned their identities, and how that changed their BDSM relationships and fetishes. I’m looking for people who publicly hold third gender space in BDSM contexts, and how they interface with the demographic. I’m looking for transpeople in power exchange relationships who are willing to talk about how their perception of gender affects their perception of dominance and submission. I’m looking for FTMs and MTFs, fat and thin, old and young, all sorts. Those who end up with featured interviews will need to submit a photo of yourself, and yes, your face needs to be in it. Those who don’t submit photos will be quoted throughout the work, but not get featured interviews.
I'm looking for articulate people who are willing to write or speak thoughtfully about things, not just give me one-line answers.
I’m also open to hearing from partners of transfolk who contribute to this book.
I’m also looking for photos of transfolk doing kinky things, faces or no. The photos don’t have to be professional quality, they just have to show us as the sexy and passionate and creative people we are.
If you’re willing to contribute to this book, please email me at cauldronfarm@hotmail.com and put “Double Edge” in the caption and I'll send you the email questionnaire.
Thanks,
-Raven Kaldera |
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| hmmmm... |
[Jul. 6th, 2009|09:25 am] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | annoyed | ] |
Been having this song play though my head all morning. To the point of interrupting the order of my asanas. It started some time last night, I could hear it all through my dreams. I know what associations my mind links to and brings up with this song. And it needs to stop.
Thank you. |
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| sensitivity |
[Jul. 2nd, 2009|03:27 pm] |
wow, I am suddenly very sensitive to every sound around me. to the point that many are almost painful and irritating
*sigh* |
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| Emilie Autumn |
[Jun. 29th, 2009|11:51 am] |
progeer lead me to this artist. I rather enjoy the mixing of instrumental styles in some of her pieces
Emilie Autumn - How to Break a Heart (poem)
Emilie Autumn - Liar
Emilie Autumn - Ancient Grounds (instrumental)
Emilie Autumn - Opheliac
Emilie Autumn - Goodbye (poem)
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