ARRRRRR

In today's economy it seems like everything is on its way DOWN. Markets are down, house values are down, moral is down, but pirates are way up. And I don't mean the Pittsburgh Pirates, cuz they're always down.

The image of pirates is changing. For the last 4 years the most popular Halloween costume has been pirate. It is no secret that we have Johnny Depp to thank for that, but it goes much further than children putting on their eye patches, hooks, and knickers. With movies like Pirates of the Caribbean and Hook portraying likeable, charismatic pirates, we've forgotten how vile, wretched, and totally awesome they actually were.

The face of piracy today has changed significantly. There are still open water pirates that board ships to plunder cargo, and terrify crews. However, today's pirates carry automatic weapons, GPS, body armor, and are often trained in combat techniques. Although the number of these pirates has steadily climbed in recent years, no other classification of pirate has grown faster or larger than the internet pirate.


Internet pirates are responsible for the reproduction and unauthorized distribution of movies, music, TV shows, books, video games, computer software, and anything else that can be digitized and shared with others.

Odds are that you have an Ipod or some other media device with music that you have copied from a friends computer, or downloaded from any number of peer to peer file sharing sites. If you do, you are one of these pirates. This is the problem.

Since July 2006 the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) have filed over 20,000 lawsuits against music and movie fans making criminals out of everyday Americans. I agree that peer to peer file sharing needs to be regulated, but criminalizing you and me is not the way to do it.

According to studies from the RIAA and MPAA, in the United States 71% of all internet pirates are between the ages of 16-24. Most of these pirates are using their parent's or school's computers to download their booty. Unfortunately, these parents and schools end up defending themselves in court.

Clearly the system is broken and needs fixing both for the sake of our economy, and for the sake of our music loving youth. President Bush recently passed a bill creating the position of copyright czar "a cabinet-level position on par with the nation's drug czar." If this is implemented correctly it could reduce the amount of Americans engaged in internet piracy, but legislators and law enforcement can't let it put all our youth behind bars. Unlike the war on drugs, the war on Ipods isn't increasing crime on our streets, and doesn't threaten the wellbeing of innocent people.

I urge you to take a look at your computer's hard drive. Look through those movies and music you've had for years, and spent hours and hours organizing and acquiring, and wonder what you're going to do with them when this czar gets his (or her) right to come after you.

Put on your eye patch, grab your gold hoop ear rings and eyeshadow, and say ARRRR.

Pirate Booty

1. September 19th is"National Talk Like a Pirate Day."
2. REALLY cool pirate facts
3. How did it get to this?
4. What kind of pirate are you?
5. Don't get sued?
6. So you want the numbers (.pdf)?
   

Decisions, Decisions, Decisions

I LOVE candy bars, but I hate having to chose one. I stand in front of my selections and usually just end up staring at them. I could be weighing pros and cons of each candy bar, but I don't. I JUST STARE; secretly hoping that one of them will pick me. I usually get so frustrated waiting for one of them to jump up into my cart that I end up buying 3 or 4 so that I can continue the debacle when I get home.

What makes decision making so tough? Is there a way to be better at it? Can I just hire somebody else to make all my decisions for me?

Decisions are tough even when the consequences of a decision are harmless. At least when I have to pick out a candy bar I end up with a candy bar. Decisions with potentially adverse effects require much more time, planning, and guts.

I have been single now for 29 years. WHY? Because for me to change that I'd have to make a decision that could have adverse effects, and I can't just get 4 and decide later. Sometimes I wish we still lived in a society where your parents picked a mate for you and you had to just make it work. I'm really good at making things work. I've also been guilty of just waiting around hoping that one would just jump into my cart. I could continue with this analogy, but I just made a decision to stop before I get into trouble.

What do you do when you're forced with a decision that you simply don't want to make? As I watch the presidential debates and news coverage I have to keep reminding myself that one of these dullards is going to be our next president!! How did this happen? Both parties had good nominees, and we got left with the ignorant charmer, and the awkward veteran. For the first time in my life I feel like our election is a game of "Would you rather".

I have voted republican since I was 18. I'm pro-life, anti-gun-control, I think health care should be left alone, immigration stopped, and illegals shipped back to where they came from. Parents should decide what's best for their children not school districts; it should be abstinence education, not sex education. Global warming is NOT man made, Marriage should ONLY be between a man and a woman, and our strong military is the ONLY thing that keeps us safe. I don't believe we should pull out of Iraq any time soon, and I believe that going in there in the first place was the right decision.

However, somehow I think George Bush was the worst president we've ever had. Not because of Iraq or Catrina, but because with today's media its hard for Americans to like and trust a president that gives HORRIBLE speeches. If you're a smooth talker like Obama it doesn't matter what you do, Americans are going to trust you again and again. America is a battered wife. As long as her drunken husband tells her he's sorry afterwords and that he'll never do it again she'll stay with him.

As an American we have a responsibility to vote. I just don't want to feel responsible for voting for either of these two dolts. I'm voting for Romney.

From Point A to Point B

I've always felt like the car you drive is a extension of your character. The cars we like end up being the ones that we feel will most closely represent our personality. This '88 Jeep wrangler that I 'drove' for two years in college still holds a place in my heart despite being broken down for most of that time.

While I owned that jeep I spent most of my free time mountain biking, exploring dirt roads, splashing through the mud, shooting guns, and wearing a cowboy hat. There was one complete winter in Utah that I kept the top off, and drove around bundled up in an army issue jacket and beanie getting rained and snowed on. Driving that jeep around somehow I felt like I was the Troy I wanted to be; a redneck with an electrical engineering degree.

Sometimes we have to make compromises with our bank accounts. We end up getting stuck with a car we don't completely like and as a result our characters change to match the new car.

When I graduated I got a big boy job by the SLC airport, but I lived in Orem. The commute cost around $100/week. I decided I needed a more economical car. Two weeks later I bought this Jetta.

I tried to customize it. I tinted the windows, bought a roof rack, installed an MP3 player, and upgraded the speakers, but I could not stop the transition from redneck to techy california boy. It didn't help too much that my job soon transfered me to California. It didn't take long before I hung up my camo jacket, replaced the cowboy hat with gel and a comb, and was burning my @$$ with heated leather seats.

The Jetta is long gone. I sold it to some hippy in California. But the consequences are lasting. I'd like to own a Wrangler again, but I'm afraid that my redneck has been in exile so long he couldn't adjust to his new surroundings, and wouldn't play nice with others. So for now I'll continue to drive my Golf and hope that I can manage to get from point B back to point A.

Look Mom, No Hands

I'm not sure why I'm doing this. Blogging that is. Just the word 'blog' conjures up images of newlyweds posting pictures of their boring wedding and new studio apartment, or college students who think their opinion actually matters and pollute the internet with their hollow points of view. As if anybody cares.

I don't expect my blog to be any different. Who will read it? Not Me!!!! It will most likely only be visited by blog stalkers. That's right, you are officially a blog stalker. You're currently engaging in internet voyeurism. You're hoping to stumble across some intimate detail about my life that due to a lack of personal contact will trick you into thinking that you know me better than you do. The truth is that if I wanted you to know intimate details about my life I would spend some actual face to face time with you.

Don't forget to bookmark my blog!! Next week I'll be sharing my ATM pin number.