5 posts tagged “xkcd”
Oh, Randall... how coincidental!
Now I'm left to wonder how cybergenetics fits into my personal principles...
Now I'm left to wonder how cybergenetics fits into my personal principles...
The alt-text is not that snarky description I put for this upload (click and see), but an obscure reference: "If this were SMBC, the alt-text drawing thingy would be a giraffe hooker fluttering her eyelashes." Oh well. I was sorta close. Sorta.
SMBC stands for Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal, and it's not even listed among "Comics I (meaning Randall Munroe) Enjoy"
SMBC stands for Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal, and it's not even listed among "Comics I (meaning Randall Munroe) Enjoy"
I feel like a masochist sometimes. I enjoy reading the syndicated feed at LiveJournal; I figure that there will be some gems beneath the sea of wankery it tends to collect.
It seems that maybe part of the "someone is wrong on the Internet" debate this time around is based on Randall Monroe's asserted assumption here that most folks are going to use a music service like Audible or iTunes to get their music. If it was simply about that, the logic would follow. But Mr. Nefarious Black Hat Man (I forget the exact character's actual name) says, "If you want a collection you can count on, PIRATE IT." And that's just not so, unless, again, we're going by the assumption everyone gets said collection from said music services, and gets DRM-protected music.
It's possible, e, that I got the "strain at a gnat" habit from here or a number of places like it. Quite a few users felt the need to split hairs on whether or not DRM was the problem some claim it is, whether or not iTunes and Audible presented such problems, and so on and so forth. And then I began to wonder how many of them had done their homework, so to speak, or were simply typing the first words that came out of their minds. (On a side note, Google apparently reads xkcd, and has given YouTube an Audio Preview feature to posting. See this article.)
Well, I thought David Byrne's article in WIRED (referenced here) was appropriate, since some were posting thoughts on how to best support an artist. One very slyly linked to dive into mark's The day the music died, although it should be noted that Microsoft decided to grant an extension to its DRM'ed tracks on MSN Music to sometime at the end of 2011 (the original date was last August 31st).
But this is one thing I think bloggers should read up on-- even if the realm of digital media, file sharing, intellectual property, and copyright law has many backwaters, stretching to the rise, fall, and relaunching of Napster at the very least. If there's any Grexers reading on the cross-post, you might remember that krj (a.k.a. Ken of the 1000 CDs) kept a "Napster" item going for many years and so the discussion stretches much further back than the casual poster might realize. There's Slashdot references to Sony's experiment with copy protection, and how it could be defeated with clever application of a Sharpie to the CD. One of the best claims I remember was that copyright protection at that time not only meant ripping music from a CD to a desktop computer was difficult, but Sony's DRM'ed CDs wouldn't play in older car CD players.
If you're feeling plucky enough to dive into the LJ feed for this comic, I did say publicly that I have started reviewing for W♥M (apologies if I was supposed to wait for an announcement) and have been getting some nice music from vu that way.
It seems that maybe part of the "someone is wrong on the Internet" debate this time around is based on Randall Monroe's asserted assumption here that most folks are going to use a music service like Audible or iTunes to get their music. If it was simply about that, the logic would follow. But Mr. Nefarious Black Hat Man (I forget the exact character's actual name) says, "If you want a collection you can count on, PIRATE IT." And that's just not so, unless, again, we're going by the assumption everyone gets said collection from said music services, and gets DRM-protected music.
It's possible, e, that I got the "strain at a gnat" habit from here or a number of places like it. Quite a few users felt the need to split hairs on whether or not DRM was the problem some claim it is, whether or not iTunes and Audible presented such problems, and so on and so forth. And then I began to wonder how many of them had done their homework, so to speak, or were simply typing the first words that came out of their minds. (On a side note, Google apparently reads xkcd, and has given YouTube an Audio Preview feature to posting. See this article.)
Well, I thought David Byrne's article in WIRED (referenced here) was appropriate, since some were posting thoughts on how to best support an artist. One very slyly linked to dive into mark's The day the music died, although it should be noted that Microsoft decided to grant an extension to its DRM'ed tracks on MSN Music to sometime at the end of 2011 (the original date was last August 31st).
But this is one thing I think bloggers should read up on-- even if the realm of digital media, file sharing, intellectual property, and copyright law has many backwaters, stretching to the rise, fall, and relaunching of Napster at the very least. If there's any Grexers reading on the cross-post, you might remember that krj (a.k.a. Ken of the 1000 CDs) kept a "Napster" item going for many years and so the discussion stretches much further back than the casual poster might realize. There's Slashdot references to Sony's experiment with copy protection, and how it could be defeated with clever application of a Sharpie to the CD. One of the best claims I remember was that copyright protection at that time not only meant ripping music from a CD to a desktop computer was difficult, but Sony's DRM'ed CDs wouldn't play in older car CD players.
If you're feeling plucky enough to dive into the LJ feed for this comic, I did say publicly that I have started reviewing for W♥M (apologies if I was supposed to wait for an announcement) and have been getting some nice music from vu that way.
Crossposted to LJ, itemid = 995, security = public, mask = 0.
LiveJournal does a lot of syndicated feeds to various websites, including this one. This entry simply rocked the community hard, like an unexpected SLAP on the face out of nowhere.
...which was my first, immediate reaction. (I have worn both their sets of shoes.) I realize, however, that life is sometimes as raw, as cutting, and as painful as this-- in that very sudden, yet very simple happenstance.
To me, it seems to be necessary to taste the very bitter to fully appreciate the very sweet.
I still cry each and every time I read this, however.
As Runescape is a Java-based game, this isn't too surprising (I've seen examples of it around the game, the fansites, etc.):
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