Month: October 2007

Categories
Book Reviews

Quick Book Reviews: Triple Edition!

*Stranger in a Strange Land*
_by Robert Heinlein_

What can I say about his book that hasn’t already been said? Just read it, if you haven’t already.

I’ve heard of people describing Heinlein as fascist, conservative, authoritarian in his writings — I am now of the conclusion that these people have never read one of this books.

_Stranger in a Strange Land_ is so far removed from those ideals as to be almost from another planet — much like the protagonist of the story! Hurr hurr!

Quick summary (if you _must_ have one): it’s about a man raised in an environment alien to Earth, and who suddenly comes to our planet as a sort of emissary. But, seriously — that’s like saying the Bible is about some people wandering around in a desert for a bit. Just read.

*Freezing Down*
_by Anders Bodelsen_

A classic SF book from the 70’s, _Freezing Down_ is a translation from the original Danish — I mention this, because the translation gives the entire thing a sort of “eerie” quality that I can’t quite put my finger on.

It’s not _badly written_—not at all—you’d just have to read it to know what I’m talking about (or if you’ve read other direct, only partly-edited translations of works before, you’ll know what I’m talking about).

I loved reading this book for several reasons, the main one being the different ideals and ways of living that were put forth by the author, who grew up in a very liberal Northern European country — the views present on sex, in particular, are very interesting. Sex is treated as just another part of life — not particularly special, but not particular forbidden either. This is doubly noteworthy, in my opinion, since a large part of the book takes place in (the author’s) present day, so there’s no “Oh, that’s just the way things are in the future” kind of thing going on.

*Nova 2*
_by Harry Harrison_

Well, _compiled_ by Harry Harrison, at least. This is a collection of about a dozen or so short stories from the early 70’s — there’s somewhat of a theme of environmentalism in a few of the stories, a theme that was just as prevalent in early 70’s society as it is today.

One story is a translation by a Brazilian author (André Carneiro), and as even Mr. Harrison describes of it in his foreword, it’s of a decidedly different nature — you’ll just have to read it and see what I’m talking about.

Categories
Rants and Raves Reviews

Radiohead’s New Album

It can be free; go see for yourself.

This article sums up what’s happend so far. According to a survey taken of the people who’ve downloaded the new album, about a third paid nothing at all: $0.

Some people make a big deal of that (like Fark’s headline, A third of the people offered Radiohead what their new album is worth: $0), but they’re missing the big picture — if a third of downloaders got it for free, that means that *the other two thirds paid for it, even when they _could’ve got it for free_*.

According to the survey, many paid more than $20, and the average price was $8 (I paid about $4, myself). Do the math — even with this survey not necessarily representing all people who downloaded the album, that means that at an average price of $8 times 2/3 of a million downloaders (~8*666,000), that’s like…

*5.3 MILLION DOLLARS*.

And that’s money that’s going straight to the band. No middlemen, no greedy record executives to pay, no RIAA cartel to cozy up to — just straight hard cash going to Radiohead so that they can continue to make good music.

What’s the downside of this type of purchasing system again?

Nothing, from what I can see. Everything I’ve ever heard of seen tell me that bands make very little money off of album sales when they go through a major label and an organization like the RIAA — most of the money they make is through performances and band “stuff” (you know, t-shirts, autographs, and the like).

And while $20-25 bucks (what you’ll pay in a store) for a new album is FAR too much if you ask me, paying the same amount to be 10-20 feet from my favorite band whilst screaming my head off along with thousands of other people? Now, _that’s_ worth $20. I’ve paid that amount before to see bands play in a venue (hell, I usually pay twice that), and I’ll continue to do so — but I haven’t paid for an CD in years.

Categories
Life Science and Technology

Well, I broke my cell phone. :(

Yep. A completely incongruous series of events which led to its poor little LCD screen being smashed upon my knee.

First, I was wearing a pair of pants that I had that couldn’t use the side pockets on — the pockets were too small (what the hell were they good for then, eh?), and couldn’t be used for anything more than my pair of keys.

Thankfully (or not), there was little “mid” pocket on them, about halfway down the leg that had a zipper and everything — perfect for those items that are too big to put in your side pockets, right? So, I stick my cell phone in there and forget about it. It’s sitting around banging against my knee when I walk, but at least it’s not falling out of my pocket and getting lost.

Well, later on Nina and I go to my sister’s house for supper (she was cooking Italian sausage soup that night, so at least that part of the night was good), and she’s showing us the new bed that her and my brother-in-law had recently got, and she’s all like, “Jump up and see what it feels like,” and I jump up on it, knees first like an idiot, and then Crack! it’s broke.

I knew just from the way the “crack” felt that it was broke. I pull it out of the pocket and the LDC screen looks like someone’s spilled chemicals inside it — those things look weird when they break, I’ll tell you what.

Luckily enough for me, my phone still worked — I just couldn’t see anything on the screen. Text messaging is impossible, of course, but at least it still functions as a phone.

And that’s that. What do I do? I bought it outright so that I didn’t have to get a 2-year contract with my cellphone company (almost unheard of where I live), and I don’t have the money to pay full price for a new one right now. So, I thought about repairing it myself.

I actually wanted to give Alltel a chance to make some money (why the hell not — they’re one of the better cell phone companies in America), so I took it up to them to ask if they could fix it. I was willing to pay a little bit more for “quality” service from them, if they could fix it immediately.

Well, I found out that not only do they not repair cell phones at the local Alltel shop where I live, but that they couldn’t even send off for the phone to be fixed — they said that it wouldn’t be “cost effective.”

Read that as: “We’re selling these phones to you at a 1000% markup — you’re paying $300 for something that cost us like $30. Why the hell do we want to repair it? Just buy a new one.”

Sorry, Alltel — no can do.

So, I go on Ebay and find a new LCD screen for $20. Hell, it’s worth it — even if it doesn’t work and I have to get a new cell phone in the end, I’m only out $20.