(no subject)

Hal Sirowitz, "What to Save for Death"

You should be thankful you're alive,
Father said. No matter how bad you're feeling
it could be a lot worse when you're dead.
No one knows what that may feel like.
That's why you should take advantage
of nature--the sun on your shoulders,
the wind in your hair--because once you're dead
you may never get that opportunity again.
You may have plenty of time to indulge
in your own thoughts when you're dead.
That may be the only thing you could do.
You won't be able to walk in a meadow
if your legs don't work & your eyes stay closed.
So if I were you I'd do more physical stuff
while you're still capable of doing it,
& save the thinking for when you're dead.

(no subject)

MSNBC says up with the iTunes Music Store, down with AAC:

The AAC cuts had a complete lack of air around the singer and instruments in the band. The sound quality was somewhat dynamic, but dull sounding. When I compared the downloaded songs to the real CD it was no contest. The uncompressed CD .AIFF files sounded much, much, much better.

This might not matter to most people, but consider this: The Wallflowers CD cost me $11.99 when I bought it. I can make as many legal copies as I like for my personal use — and those copies all sound great and play on any device I can think of. I can also rip the songs onto my MP3 players and the iPod. The Wallflowers download from iTunes cost me $9.99, is limited in where I can play and store it — and the sound is inferior.

Last night I ran into an old coworker from Liquid Audio--where we tried to sell downloadable AAC tracks back in the 1000s--who asked if all the IMS news was giving me painful flashbacks, too. It is.

But I wish Apple well. They seem at least to have made some headway with the labels. Prices are lower (if not low enough), copy protection is more reasonable (not saying much). Maybe it'll work out this time.

(no subject)

MSNBC's Jan Herman shares reader responses to a recent item on Wal-Mart. (They've decided to stop carrying "lad magazines" like Maxim and FHM.) One reader asks, "If Wal-Mart is so concerned about promoting a ‘family-friendly’ culture, why do they sell shotguns?" Jan says, "I know Wal-Mart sells rifle gunsights. But does it really sell shotguns? I don’t believe it. Please tell me you’re wrong."

Searching Google for "wal-mart guns", I learned that they sell nail guns and Young Guns 2.

I also learned that--according to Packing.org, "a great place to find out how to legally carry a concealed weapon"--Wal-Mart "has given in to an orchestrated campaign to move its firearms counter out of sight of its toy department," at least in the "embattled Providence store". And that in September 2000, Jews For The Preservation of Firearms Ownership was alarmed by news that Wal-Mart might stop selling guns.

(JPFO's sister organization, Concerned Citizens Opposed to Police States--a stance I'm in full agreement with--provides a Totalitarian Time Clock that measures the march of the police state in the U.S. It's currently 10:48, where the ratification of the Bill of Rights signifies the "dawn of freedom", and a totalitarian police state would be midnight.)

I still don't know whether Wal-Mart sells shotguns. If they do, they're not available online.