Category Archives: Stupidity

The previous post is completely

Posted on by

The previous post is completely work-related, btw. Just wanted to make sure nobody mis-interpreted that one.

So, on the work related front, let me ask you this. When there is a security guard at the front door, and the employees are issued picture ID badges, one would reasonably expect that the security guards would actually check to make sure the pictures on the ID match the faces of the people presenting them.

I understand that there is a certain familiarity that is a necessity here, but still the fact of the matter is I could have been fired yesterday, how does the guard know that if I stick a vaguely similar card in a plastic sleeve and flash it at him from 8 feet away?

But my favourite is the sleeping security guard. I’m serious. There’s a guard where I work that is in his early fifties, he wears slightly tinted glasses, and he’s convinced himself that nobody can tell he’s sleeping behind these things. He sits upright, facing the flow of people, but his eyes ARE CLOSED. I of course play my role in the charade and dutifully hold up my lunchkit and keep on walking. Or I hold up my empty hand if someone else is in the lobby. I wouldn’t want to embarass him after all.

I mean come on people. He’s a SECURITY GUARD. All his job requires him to do is just stay awake, and he’s not able to do even that. Go to bed at a reasonable time for cryin’ out loud. It’s not like we’re talking about the night shift, that can be forgiven of course. It’s 1:30pm and this guy is snoozing. Is it too much to ask?

sigh.

Ok, so I think I

Posted on by

Ok, so I think I know a little bit about technology. I’m serious here, I am in the computer business and run this little blog, it pays the bills and all. Well, not the blog, but the computer business. The blog is pure vanity, as you all have come to realize. All of you, my reader.

Anyway, back to my topic. Technology and I are more than just passing acquaintances, in my mind. So, knowing that, why am I constantly confounded by a relatively low-tech invention: the photocopier. I’m talking about complete barrier to understanding sort of ignorance here people, not just the occasional “Whoops I forgot to cross-collate before stapling”. I just don’t get it. It’s embarassing.

I walk into the photocopier room with a sense of dread everytime. I just know I won’t do it right. If I have like one sheet I want a copy of that’s ok, I can do that. Lift the lid and press Start. It’s when I have a multipage document that I need a few copies of, that’s when things get downright terrifying. Will this thing come out sorted or not? I better not ask for staples just in case it’s not. I won’t even attempt to photocopy a duplexed original and expect anything good to happen. I leave lots of time to fight with the photocopier before a meeting just in case I need it.

Anybody with me here?

Ah, more good stuff on

Posted on by

Ah, more good stuff on the online music thing.

Apparently the rocket scientists in the music industry are preparing to “adjust” the prices of online CDs and singles. The basic gist is that a CD download will cost more than the physical CD from a store.

.

That’s stunned silence, in case you can’t tell. What the heck are these people thinking? Where does this make sense? One example qutoed in the article is almost $4 more if you download it. Sure, sign me up. Let me pay more for it, not get any artwork or media, have it polluted with digital copyright protection so that I can’t play it anywhere I want, and so I will have to burn it to a CD anyway (that I have to buy myself anyway, and pay an extra tax on). Yep. That’s good business right there. Them fellers are smmart.

oh, yeah, maybe jacking the price of a whole album is stupid, so maybe let’s force people to buy a bad song when they buy a good song. I wish I was joking, read the article.

man.

In a return to a

Posted on by

In a return to a much-loved topic here, I thought I would post a link to a little article. It’s at Wired.com and the basic thrust is that file sharing has little to no effect on CD sales. Of course, the recording industry is quick to say that the report is crap. From their perspective, what else could possibly account for the decline in CD sales?

The title of the article is “Maybe the Music’s Just Lousy?”. By jove, I think they might be on to something.

I know I’m firmly now out of the target demographic for music sales with a wife and three kids, but still I can say that there are so very few compelling songs on the radio that I must have, it’s no bloody wonder they can’t sell CDs.

Ali had some eloquent thoughts on this once, right here on the very blog. A good comment on downloading music.