F.U. to the RIAA!!!

UI saw this on Engadget and I just have to say... WTF???

"Sure, we've heard RIAA-admiring lawyers affirm that ripping your own CDs is in fact "stealing," but it seems the aforementioned entity is putting its money where its mouth is in a case against Jeffrey Howell. Reportedly, the Scottsdale, Arizona resident is being sued by the RIAA, and rather than Mr. Howell just writing a check and calling it a day, he's fighting back in court. Interestingly, it seems that the industry is maintaining that "it is illegal for someone who has legally purchased a CD to transfer that music into their computer." Ira Schwartz, the industry's lawyer in the case, is arguing that MP3 files created on his computer from legally purchased CDs are indeed "unauthorized copies," and while we've no idea what will become of all this, we suppose you should go on and wipe those personal copies before you too end up in handcuffs." -http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/29/riaa-suing-citizen-for-copying-legally-purchased-cds-to-pc/

So.. Let me get this straight. It is illegal if I wanted to copy a little Siouxie to my iPod from my CD collection. Wait a sec.. I purchased these CDs, before mp3s were popular or even an electronic format, so I can listen to the music whenever and wherever I want. This means that anyone that purchased MP3 players before the days of i-Tunes is in violation of this ridiculous law.

So, This is what I will be doing to protest.
I will not be purchasing any new albums.
No one will give me any new CDs as presents.
Everyone that I know and talk to should boycott buying any new albums or MP3s.

I think that we all should give the RIAA a BIG F.U.!!!

Goodbye 2007

Well, Another year is winding down and I am looking forward to seeing what 2008 brings. Don’t get me wrong. 2007 has not been all that bad. There has only been a few “issues” that we as a family have had to deal with.
1. Dad has cancer, but recovering nicely.
2. Dad also is having heart issues, but the doctors felt putting in a defibrillator/pacemaker was a good idea. – verdict is still out on this one.
3. My youngest had to go under the knife to remove an infection that was encapsulated.
4. A friend of mine, from a former company, had a heart-attack. I hear that he is doing okay, but since he does not return my message I don’t know for sure how he is doing… But, I did get a Christmas card from him and his family.
5. The cat decided that pulling out her stitches after her surgery was a good idea. This caused a secondary infection which caused her to stay in her kennel for a week and $300 dollars that I really did not need. But, she is doing fine now and is warming herself by the fire.
I think that is about it…

Work is going well, lots of projects and new technologies that I can put my hands in. New EVA 8100, HP 7000c Blades (dual “Quad”-cores), POE switches, and a ton of other things.

I still am working as the Infrastructure Department, since my supervisor left to take a job in Florida about 6 months ago. Good news is that we are trying to hire a person to give me some relief. It was sort of funny this morning, I was talking with my boss and saying that things are getting done, just slowly and that I am getting use to the work load. Just a little funny…

I have finally got to hook up the Wii. Let me tell you. It is very cool. I see what people say about the difference in playing the Wii verses everything else, you need to be standing with nothing around you. The games that I have are Wii Sports and Wii Play. We sports is lots of fun and even the kids and Liz enjoy playing Wii Bowling and Wii Golf. I can see what the Xbox means about doing exercise while playing is just wrong. After playing a full round of tennis, I realize that I am working up a sweat. The Wii is lots of fun for all.

We also had snow on Christmas. The girls really enjoyed themselves and loved watching the snow cover the trees outside. They both scored from Santa, ranging from a princess MP3 player to a digital camera to a Hello Kitty purse.

Hello 2008!

Game Review: The Orange Box

I am a big fan of the Half-life series by Valve Software. Here is a company that produces some really great games that have a lot of replay value. To this day, I still play Counter Strike and Day of Defeat for the PC. Games that are many many years past their prime. But, they are still good with a great following.

I was excited to play “The Orange Box” for the 360. Here is a single disk that contains 5 games - Half-Life2, HL2 Episode 1, HL2 Episode 2, Team Fortress 2 and Portal. I did not get into Team Fortress or Portal, only had 5 days on the rental. Prior to renting this, I own and have finished both Half-Life 2 and HL2 Episode 1. I really wanted to play Episode 2 and it did not a disappoint.

It picked up right where Episode 1 left off, so I would suggest that you start from the beginning and work your way through from the beginning. The graphics lived up to the Half-Life 2 Source engine. The AI was fairly intelligent, even on normal. It certainly lived up to the HL2 name. I would highly recommend playing this game and this series. And this is a great way to do it. Valve provides you the entire series for one price. Take home message: Good Graphics – check out the water, Puzzles are similar to the rest of the series, and good replay value.

If you do not have Half-Life 2, this is a buy!