Here's something you might be interested in.
I met my liberal lawyer friend for coffee the other day. And it was nice to have discussions that didn't involve us arguing over politics, the ACLU, or anything like that. Instead, the few news stories we talked about were amusing.
One involved a jury finding against a woman for sharing her music files illegally. There were 24 songs involved, and the record companies were awarded almost $2 million. That's about $80,000 per song.
I joked that maybe they should've looked at each song individually. I mean, Afternoon Delight might be a $8 song, not an $80,000 tune.
All the file sharing and music downloading, seems so odd to me. I'm old school (and also horrible at doing anything on the computer). If I hear a song I like, I buy the CD. That's burned me before. I still have a Strokes CD that's awful, to name one of about 25 of the last few few hundred discs I've bought.
I always think it's interesting to hear people complain about the musicians already being rich, and "how much money do they need?" It's such odd logic, as nobody would think it is right to take an artists creation and just make T-shirts or lithographs from it. A company couldn't just make Lakers jerseys, or a shirt with the Coke logo. Everyone agrees that selling pirated DVDs is wrong. Yet...people think musicians shouldn't have any rights when it comes to online activity.
Musicians, who make a few cents on each CD sold, are supposed to sit back while a new technology comes along that enables people to all download the song without anyone paying for it.
The other news story we talked about involved the pilot dying during a flight from Brussels to Newark. I first joked that you might rather die than go to Newark. She didn't laugh at that. Who knows. Maybe she had family there. Or maybe somebody dying is never funny.
Although, we did laugh as we discussed whether you tell the 247 passengers that were on board. I said you shouldn't. The lawyer in her, said that the passengers had the right to know.
I asked what would possibly be gained by them knowing that? You'd have flight attendants trying to calm a crazy crowd. Perhaps some looney student pilot that would want to get into the cockpit and work his magic.
After all, a co-pilot took the controls and landed safely. He even made the usual announcements of "Welcome to Newark. The temperature's a little cold..."
She got this angry look on her face and said, "Well...at least give the passengers free booze!"
We both started laughing, making our waitress think we'd probably had too much booze.
I wondered how that announcement would've been made.
"Well, ladies and gentleman...as you can see, the 'fasten seatbelt light' is on, if you can return to your seats. And...we have some good news and bad news. The bad news is, Pilot O'Malley has died. The good news is, we're going to waive the $5 fee on drinks and snacks. We'll be around shortly to take your order."
I met my liberal lawyer friend for coffee the other day. And it was nice to have discussions that didn't involve us arguing over politics, the ACLU, or anything like that. Instead, the few news stories we talked about were amusing.
One involved a jury finding against a woman for sharing her music files illegally. There were 24 songs involved, and the record companies were awarded almost $2 million. That's about $80,000 per song.
I joked that maybe they should've looked at each song individually. I mean, Afternoon Delight might be a $8 song, not an $80,000 tune.
All the file sharing and music downloading, seems so odd to me. I'm old school (and also horrible at doing anything on the computer). If I hear a song I like, I buy the CD. That's burned me before. I still have a Strokes CD that's awful, to name one of about 25 of the last few few hundred discs I've bought.
I always think it's interesting to hear people complain about the musicians already being rich, and "how much money do they need?" It's such odd logic, as nobody would think it is right to take an artists creation and just make T-shirts or lithographs from it. A company couldn't just make Lakers jerseys, or a shirt with the Coke logo. Everyone agrees that selling pirated DVDs is wrong. Yet...people think musicians shouldn't have any rights when it comes to online activity.
Musicians, who make a few cents on each CD sold, are supposed to sit back while a new technology comes along that enables people to all download the song without anyone paying for it.
The other news story we talked about involved the pilot dying during a flight from Brussels to Newark. I first joked that you might rather die than go to Newark. She didn't laugh at that. Who knows. Maybe she had family there. Or maybe somebody dying is never funny.
Although, we did laugh as we discussed whether you tell the 247 passengers that were on board. I said you shouldn't. The lawyer in her, said that the passengers had the right to know.
I asked what would possibly be gained by them knowing that? You'd have flight attendants trying to calm a crazy crowd. Perhaps some looney student pilot that would want to get into the cockpit and work his magic.
After all, a co-pilot took the controls and landed safely. He even made the usual announcements of "Welcome to Newark. The temperature's a little cold..."
She got this angry look on her face and said, "Well...at least give the passengers free booze!"
We both started laughing, making our waitress think we'd probably had too much booze.
I wondered how that announcement would've been made.
"Well, ladies and gentleman...as you can see, the 'fasten seatbelt light' is on, if you can return to your seats. And...we have some good news and bad news. The bad news is, Pilot O'Malley has died. The good news is, we're going to waive the $5 fee on drinks and snacks. We'll be around shortly to take your order."