06.26.02
Posted in Uncategorized at 5:32 pm by lael
Radio free tiny pineapple, (RFTP,) as fine a piece of nouveau americana as I have ever heard, has gone off of the air.
Let me preface this by saying that I absolutely endorse paying people for the work that they do. I work as a graphics and programming lackey. I produce property that is nothing but intellectual. Protecting others rights protects my own.
Radio free tiny pineapple was an interesting experience. Grettir Asmundarson produced a streaming and web experience. RFTP’s web site was an integrated part of the listening experience. It allowed the listener to see the album they were listening to. The listener could follow a link directly to Amazon to get more information and to purchase the product. Based on the comments on Grettir’s blog, a lot of people purchased albums based on their listening. Grettir said, “I think Jonatha Brooke owes me a car.” The experience was like sitting around in a friends living room listening to their CD collection. I could listen, read the jackets, and talk with my host.
The library of congress has made it too expensive for Grettir Asmundarson to continue hosting this pajama party. You can still see what Grettir is listening to. You just cannot listen in. The LOC has created a ruling on streaming audio. It establishes a rate of .07 cents per song estimated at 12 per hour. Only .84 cents (i.e. $0.0084) per hour per stream. He could potentially be liable for any streaming he has done since Oct. 28, 1998. Grettir could be liable for nearly *$4000 dollars per year for that last three and a half years. A *$14,000 dollar bill.
The LOC ruling provides that the recording industry would be able to bill Grettir *$3,900 per year.
Under the status quo: Grettir plays recordings; people buy them; the recording industry derives *$11,000 per year.
The recording industry stands to gain *$7100 more from the status quo.
I cannot believe that a site that broadcasted 32 high, 32 acceptable, and 32 poor quality feeds deprived the record companies of that much revenue. I personally have increased my purchasing of recordings five fold because of this site.
I understand that RFTP is atypical in it’s interface. I understand that I am atypical in my purchasing, listening and my interest in protecting intellectual property rights. I understand that the rest of the streaming industry may be reaming the royaltied rears of the recording industry. And yet . . . .
I miss my tiny pineapple.
Radio Free Tiny Pineapple went off the air at 1400 MST on 2002/06/21.
—————————-
* Here’s how I get the figures:
Grettir ran 96 streams. Max traffic that I’ve seen has been 64 of his total capacity. 16 hrs at that max (64) and 8 hours at half-of-max (32) would make 1280 streamed hours per day.
Billed hours
((16 * 64) + (8 * 32)) * 365 = 467,200 streamed hrs per year
hourly rate at ยข.07 per song at 12 songs per hour
.07 * 12 = .84 cents per stream per hour.
467,200*.0084 = $3,924.48 per year would be Grettir’s bill.
At any given time while I listen, RFTP has 45 or so listeners. If half of them buy half of the albums that I am inspired to buy, 22 people would buy 3 CDs a month. RFTP sells 66 CDs per month * 12 months = 792 CDs * $14 per CD = $11,088 per year. In reality, RFTP may have thousands of listeners. None of which may be influenced to make any changes in their buying habits.
Permalink
06.25.02
Posted in Uncategorized at 8:43 am by lael
Bruce had a wonderful time in Asia.
Amanda and I are planning a trip to Texas to see Aggie and to see a beach.
Avery wanted to see a beach. Avery needed to see a beach. She wants to run in the water and splash, and splash, and splash.
There are beaches in the Canadian rockies. Chilly nights. Cool days. Icy water at the beaches. Texas has the Schmaggy and we love her. xoxoxo.
Spending several days with Ag and not in hotel rooms also fits our budget.
Permalink
06.18.02
Posted in Uncategorized at 4:32 pm by lael
The entry system worked beautifully.
I demo’d the site for Vicki and created a new news entry and picture for association.
I went back to clean out the extraneous entries from the databases and accidentally typed in where ed_date>2002-06-17 instead of =. MySQL read it as the default date (i. e. 1972) and deleted everthing since.
Good thing I keep backups.
Permalink
Posted in Uncategorized at 4:32 pm by lael
My friend bruce is in Southeast Asia for vacation. Lucky bastard.
OK. He worked hard and made sacrifices to take this trip.
http://kitty_litter.blogspot.com/
Permalink
06.12.02
Posted in Uncategorized at 3:41 pm by lael
The Courier’s website automation project has been going since December. In March I had the classifieds in a “push button” automation system. Today, I have the same functionality for the rest of the daily content.
Yahoo. Huzzah!
I don’t say much, but I’m terribly excited.
Permalink
06.10.02
Posted in Uncategorized at 5:36 pm by lael
The strangest things contribute to decision making.
I was going to go to Neive’s for lunch today. I only had a ten dollar bill. Now if I go to Neive’s, I can use my credit card. It would delay my return to an ATM. But I didn’t have cash for a tip.
The special is either $3.50 or $4.50. With tax less than $5.00.
At 20% the tip would be a buck. 15% == $0.75.
Yet, I didn’t have exact change for a tip. So, I didn’t go to Neive’s.
I went someplace else where I spent my ten dollar bill. Advancing my return to an ATM. Go Figger.
Permalink
Posted in Uncategorized at 10:45 am by lael
Nothing fun here, just bitching.
Cox Cable is having difficulty maintaining a connection today. I experience a 7 - 20% packet loss when pinging their server.
Periods of total loss sometimes run for 10 seconds at a time.
Damned frustrating when you’re trying to do DB management via an SSH telnet connection.
They will be here tomorrow
Permalink
06.06.02
Posted in Uncategorized at 12:48 pm by lael
Last night Avery was up until ten watching Harry Potter. It’s a long story.
I like long stories.
Avery has been anticipating a tea party thrown by the Arts and Humanities Council. Mandy had been talking it up and had made Avery a new dress for the occassion. The party was last night at seven o’clock.
Yesterday she wouldn’t nap. She was grumpy and needed an afternoon nap. Mandy knew that without the nap she would be unmanagable at the tea party. Mandy said, “No nap, no tea party.” Avery wouldn’t nap. She understood the consequences. Avery decided not to go.
At five o’clock Avery decided to go to the tea party. She decided she would go and, “finish,” her nap. I arrived home at five-thirty and Avery was hard asleep. The sort of sleep where you wake her and you get, “What are you doing. I’m trying to sleep.” Or rather, her version of it, which is endless agonized crying, and inarticulate demands for some unknowable something.
Amanda tried to wake her at six o’clock for dinner and tea. She wouldn’t wake. The only sensible thing we could get from her was, “I need to finish my nap, whimper, sob.”
What do we do? Avery felt that she had lived with the letter of the law. Nap == Tea Party. She wanted that tea party. Bloody murder (or petulant pissiness) will be the price to pay if she misses it.
Maybe she’ll forget.
Meanwhile…. Amanda prepares desperate contingency plans of inviting Debbie and Fiona over for tea on Wednesday.
We hope that she’ll forget.
At eight o’clock she woke and announced that she was ready for the tea party. Mandy bursts into activity. Lael says, “huh?”
Mandy decided that the invitations said seven ’til eight-thirty. They will try to go. They could make the last fifteen minutes.
They did. Avery had a delightful time. Fifteen minutes had a much higher happiness per minute ratio than ninety.
The upshot is that we had a child who had woken up at a time when she was usually settling down to bed.
Only one thing left to do.
Scare the hell out of her.
The third floor hallway on the left-hand side is mighty scary for a three year old.
Permalink
06.05.02
Posted in Uncategorized at 12:41 pm by lael
This weblog is an experiment. If it has value, I will keep it.
Permalink