Anything but politics........

I am currently listening to the President, and I dearly want to change the subject, or get my mind off this, so I will go back to DRM. Right now this presidential genius is talking about how he is going to bring math and science professionals to the classroom to prepare our high school students. Yes, George, they are fucking rushing to the classroom to make that 30K starting salary. That won’t even keep his daughters in alcohol for a year. Okay, back to DRM, really. DRM is Digital Rights Management, which is how the record companies try to keep the people who buy the music from sharing it in an illegal manner. I just received a new CD in the mail by an artist named Tristan Prettyman. (I caught her on XM Radio the other day, sounds kind of interesting) So as I look at the cd box, I see that it has some sort of program that it installs that allows you to make three copies of the cd, and it is NOT compatible with the iPod.

I decided to take a look at the artist’s website to see what was listed there. Interestingly enough, on the guestbook, the artist herself is bemoaning the DRM put on her cd by the record company, stating she can’t even get it to work on her powerbook and apologizing for all of the problems. Her quote is:

tristazz in ventura on Saturday, 08.06.2005 at 12:15 pm WE HAVE SOLUTIONS TO ALL YOUR ITUNES, CD PLAYING, IPOD EXCHANGING PROBLEMS, IF YOU JUST HEAD OVER TO THE FORUM AND YOULL SEE THE POST IN TRISTAN PRETTYMAN DISCUSSION! THANKS AND AGAIN I AM SOOOOOO SORRY ABOUT ALL THIS COPY CONTROL, I DIDNT KNOW EITHER, SWEAR...CANT EVEN PLAY MY OWN CD ON MY POWER BOOK! TP

They claim to be for the artists, but I really doubt it. And of course, anyone who is semi computer literate already know how to bypass these artificial roadblocks.

Some further research showed that Sony/BMG has suffered some backlash from these attempts at restricting copying. That is really the only way to get the message across to these types. I want to stress again that I don’t mean to pick on Sony, they are just the most obvious one to mention at this time. Then again, maybe I *do* mean to pick on them, since this crap is ridiculous. I don’t think that many people are going to argue that I can’t even put a cd that I legally purchased on my iPod.

Up next: XM versus Sirius satellite radio for those who care……….

Job Based Health Insurance Vanishing in AZ, US

Headline from the Tucson Citizen http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/news/local/011606a1_healthcare

It seems that the number of people getting their insurance from an employer is dipping below 50%. From what I understand, this is an all-time low, although there is some deviation statistically based on employment rates and the strength of the economy.

I know in my own situation, my employer has selected to go through Cigna, a company I personally feel to be one of the worst in coverage, to the exclusion of all others. Once upon a time there were several options, now we are down to one. This "sob story" is nothing compared to what others who are not insured are having to go through.

I have pointed out before that I am no ultra bleeding heart liberal, yet I seem to be running contrary to the commonly held belief that one becomes more conservative as they grow older. Now don't get me wrong, I still hold very strong to limited government in concept (while I hold a government position, in a sense) yet I am very afraid that this situation is getting out of control. Health care costs are skyrocketing, while the individual's ability to pay seems to be decreasing.

Years ago I would have been so opposed to the notion of government mandated health care that I would have turned blue in the face arguing it, now I truly just don't know. I am not sure if the government could run a peep show booth successfully, much less a health care system. I would like to believe that the system can be fixed, I am just in the unenviable position of not knowing how to fix it. (Something I would have never owned up to in my younger daze, ahem days.)

I am pretty sure that if healthcare became government run, the wait for services would be close to unbearable, but then again, in Los Angeles County right now, the wait for emergency services (if you are not actively hemhorraging from an orifice) is over 24 hours in an emergency room. Much of this is due to the demand placed on the system by those who are in the country to do migrant type labor (businesses save a buck and pass the *savings* down to you, as you have to pay for the higher medical costs) as well as those Americans who are unfortunate enough to find themselves lacking health care coverage. I have been there, with raging bronchitis and no insurance. (I did pay the hospital bill by the way, so don't blame me for your higher premium!)

Lots of talk, yet no real solutions. But I don't know how much longer the system can go on the way it is currently going. Just what exactly led to the cost of healthcare surpassing the customer's ability to pay? Insurance? Research?

Your computer belongs to Sony/BMG

I am writing this at around 12 Midnite on January 2, 2006 (Happy New Year everyone) and I am constantly seeing things that make me crazy, yet I haven’t been visiting the blog and writing them down. I am sure that Dr. Hartley would not approve, but I digress.

I want to start off by stating confidently that I am not a Sony hater. I have long been a fan of much of the company’s entertainment products, including the Playstation and Playstation 2. I have a Sony television, and I just installed a Sony DVD burner into my old Dell computer. So it is safe to conclude that I don’t have any particular axe to grind against them.

Their copy protection measures are a totally different animal, and one that I am completely opposed to. It seems that they have installed a piece of software on some music CD’s made by their various labels. When you pop it into your computer drive, it makes you click through and accept software before it allows you to play in on your pc. Okay, you say, so what’s the problem. Well, even if you click “no” and decline the install, it installs it anyway! (I can verify this with personal experience.) This software that now lies on your pc (whether you know it or not) can be used by other malicious people to get certain information or obtain control of your computer. Now I am not an alarmist, and I think that the chances of that happening are slim, but I think the greater danger is how under the guise of protecting their copyright, they don’t seem to mind making changes to a machine that is not theirs. My computer does not belong to them. They don’t want me making copies of their music, (which does not belong to me) but they are totally okay with making unauthorized changes to my computer setup, and perhaps putting me at risk for various malware issues. Nice. And just in case you were wondering what I was doing putting the cd in my computer, the idea was to rip it and put it on my iPod, which should be completely legitimate. They don’t want to allow me to do that, but it’s okay if I buy a copy on iTunes to put on my iPod. Jerks.

You can read more about the story here.