• 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.

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.

I have a preferred route when travelling to and from work, but if the lights or traffic just aren’t going my way I can make a turn and take an alternate route. WTOP graces us with traffic and weather together on the 8’s so we can intellegently choose the best route. Getting home faster is good for me, but it helps other people too.

I have very little concern about the commute time of random strangers, but my actions help them get home more quickly. I see congestion and I follow my own interest – but in doing that I get out of the way for others. I help distribute traffic more evenly. My little car makes very little impact on the average travel time of the DC Metro commuter, but a whole lot of people making decisions impacts traffic greatly. Out of the chaos of all those individuals comes a strange sort of organization. If the roads and number of commuters stayed the same, could a well-intentioned bureaucrat do a better job directing traffic than all the self-motivated individuals?

Those who stayed awake in Economics 101 will recognize this as yet another example of the “invisible hand”, an idea introduced by Adam Smith in his keystone book The Wealth of Nations. Could he be right? Even though we are selfish and greedy could we be inadvertently helping society?

Thanks for voting.