Muppethouse

The Rules

So the idea is that media isn’t going to be produced for free (as in free lunch – not freedom). In the US we grant automatic copyright to content creators, granting them the right to decide how their intellectual property can be used. Large corporations like the network television stations, the corporations of the MPAA and RIAA often hold the copyright on most of the popular content that the American public digests on a daily basis. For the most part, we understand the rules. I just thought I’d list them out.

• It’s okay to import your CDs into iTunes, then carry the songs around on your iPod
• It’s not okay to turn those songs into ringtones – you need to pay for that
• It’s okay to play those songs over a college radio station
• It’s okay to buy songs off iTunes or another music service, but if you lose them you don’t get to download them again even though you paid for it
• It’s not okay to lend your CD to a friend and let them import it into iTunes
• It’s okay to play your CD at a party – where people who didn’t pay for the music can hear it
• It’s not okay to rip a DVD to your computer or import that into iTunes
• If you want to watch that movie on your iPod, PSP, or XBOX 360 then you need to buy the content again… duh
• It’s not okay to back up a copy of your DVDs – even if you have kids and they scratch all the DVDs you own
• It’s okay to use a VCR to tape American Idol, then hand the tape to your mom so she can see it
• It’s not okay to take American Idol and send it to your mom using “peer-to-peer” software
• It’s okay to reinstall Windows XP on the computer I bought from Dell
• If I change the video card and motherboard on that computer – then it’s officially not the same computer and I need to buy another copy of Windows XP

Boy, they sure look funny when the rules are listed out. It is only getting worse folks.

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Hair Cuttery

Following my bimonthly haircut ritual yesterday I strolled into the Hair Cuttery. Now perhaps they aren’t known for the most high-quality cuts, but given that my hair is far from a stylistic nightmare they manage the job. When you go into the cuttery you get to type on a kick ass green screen terminal your first name and the name of the stylist (if any) you would prefer to have. I usually exploit this tiny chance for creativity by picking a name like Ichabaud or Beelzebub, but this time I decided to take a different approach. I have christened my series in random nouns with “Tomato”. As I sat down to read the 4-month-old copy of Ebony while I waited, I wondered how I would contain my boyish laughter as the stylist called out my name. To my surprise, when she pulled up my name she did not look confused, amused, or anything of the sort. I suspect that because I was the only one waiting there was no confusion as to who was next.

This brings me to my second point about the Hair Cuttery. Take this not as a stereotype, but as an observation of my experiences at low-end hair establishments throughout the northern Virginia area. The more asian the stylist, the better the cut. There, I said it. Now you may ask “how can one asian be more or less asian than another”? Well, I’m glad you asked. Let’s say you get a hawaiian dude – that would be more asian than the white caucasian trailer-trash lady. Philipino lady would be more asian than the Hawaiian. An Eskimo would be less asian than the Hawaiian. A Korean dude with silk pinstripe pants and man-heels is even more asian than that – thus you’d go to him. Now, the better cut seems to come from a particular attention to detail which is nearly absent in spanish or mideterranian stylists I have had. They have cared about my hair much more than I do. Again, I am not suggesting that there is some hard or fast rule, I’m just saying what my experiences are – and at this point I feel that I have more than a satistically significant sample size. I have never cared or selected a stylist. The white dude with the kooky lisp and glasses that hosed up my hair three months ago will get another shot if he comes up at random. Anyone else have any kooky theories related to race, height, weight, or hair color as they are related to service in our day-to-day lives? Are short people worse drivers? Is the younger cashier ususally faster? No holds barred, lets hear ‘em.

Posted in Opinion, Service | 3 Comments »

Screw the CCNA.

So I kicked the crap out of the CCNA today with a 961 out of 1000. After getting over my initial excitement, I’m realizing that it doesn’t make me happier about the test. Although over the last week I have studied mundane trivia like ISDN reference points and default LMI settings, the real work I did was in figuring out the “tricks” that Cisco typically puts in their questions so I could more quickly focus in on the answers. Time was my Achilles heel when I took the test last, so that’s how I trained. I also became uber decimal-to-binary man, a skill likely to be useful at dinner parties for years to come. I realize that testing for an industry certification needs to be difficult in order to preserve the potency of the cert – but this is just absurd. It is an associate level certification that resorts to trivia and trickery to keep the failure rate high. If people keep passing based on brain dumps then perhaps adding many more questions to the pool is the solution, but defunct protocols and word gymnastics suck.

Posted in Dorkness, Opinion | 4 Comments »