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October 24 Amazon Video on DemandHow it can clear clutter and how it can be a pain in the ass. Amazon VoD is probably one of the best things that has happened to my movie collection. Rent a movie and never have to worry about late fees, taxes or the possibility of a scratched DVD. If you really like it, then buy the movie and download it to two devices or two mobile, Amazon approved, devices. Now here comes the problem. You can't stream the media to anywhere from your PC or a Network Storage device. That sucks. I recently purchased a Windows Home Server with the intent of centralizing all of my media so I can stream it anywhere in my home including my TiVO. You could even stream the content to a Mac or the internet if you so wish, but not Amazon VoD. Sure WHS is PlayForSure and DRM compliant, but Amazon requires the licensed device to be the sole viewing medium. Then there is the possibility of the copyright owner yanking the movie from the Amazon library which is called blackout. Let's say you purchase a movie, download it and two months later you want to move the file to another system and delete it off the office computer and download it to the living room computer. (This is the Amazon way of moving a file, whodathunk copying it to the destination system would be the least desired of the moving methods.) But wait, the movie's blacked out which means no mas on the movie downloads...yer screwed. Or maybe not. I recently had two movies I wanted to copy to my PC for backup. They're blacked out now so I called in to see what we could do. "New license issue to import or download?", I asked. "We can refund your money", was the response. They will work with you and I'm sure they've seen the litigation side of it all with who owns the movie. Really, that's kind of cool when you think of it. When's the last time you bought a DVD from Best Buy and asked for a refund because the copyright owner put a hex on the DVD? Never. All of this doesn't answer the question on who actually owns the media. The consumer or the copyright owner? Legally the consumer is buying the rights to view or listen to the media. The actual content belongs to the copyright owner whom can do anything they want to with it. I guess it's kind of like buying a ticket at a carny exhibit for the three headed man. Sure it's interesting to watch, but the carny knows eventually you'll leave the tent and go home. October 08 Say what you willCharlestonians have a site specifically targeted at Ohioans. It's called gobacktoohio.com . The site has some hilarious cartoons and blog entries. If you want you can even get a bumper sticker to support the opinion. Charleston is home to beautiful homes, food and people. Locals care very much about the culture, people and environment. Local cycling advocates have been pushing for bike lanes and more multiple use trails for years. It's just too bad the government isn't 100 percent behind them. I just read an article about Dayton, OH putting in bike lanes in the downtown area. Dayton is one of the leading cities in the United States for loss of jobs and plunging home prices. Charleston, SC had never really seen a recession more like a stop loss. If there was any decline in home sales, then it was minimal. In fact home sales soared in Charleston during the summer. I'm saying that home sales and property taxes support infrastructure monies. If a city that has dropped nearly 30% of their total jobs as well as a severe decline in home property values and can put in some infrastructure, then a city with multi-million dollar properties can appropriate the resources needed for a bike lane infrastructure.
I always love the retort locals give to those from off. "Go back home if you don't like it here." Good advice during a recession that really hasn't stopped yet. Let those people go home to the inexpensive houses and build up the job market. Let those tax dollars walk away for improvement. Let those same people walk away from home development who pay for the contractors, building supplies, transportation, food services, etc. In times of hardship you occasionally have to swallow southern pride. If not, then Charleston could be the one with the 30% drop in the job market and falling home property values.
Say what you will about Ohio, at least they have bike lanes and a multi city river trail. October 07 Seriously IronicI'm slow on the news at times. One of my favorite song artists died September 11th this year. The Jim Carroll Band didn't last long, maybe four or five years but Jim Carroll's contributions to early 80's music all the way into the 90's gave much to what we now listen to today. His name has been attached to some truly inspiring people such as Andy Warhol and Lou Reed. Better late than never, R.I.P. Jim Carroll
October 02 Take care of yo stuffIt's been 4 years since I broke off my right tibial plateau. That's the thing your femur (biggest bone in the body) generally rests on in your leg. It was done in one of those stupid Cat 4 thingys right as I crossed the finish line. I finished the sprint and some guy comes from the far left at which time decides to lean into me at 36+ MPH. I corrected and leaned back into him which made him lean harder into me to the point of pushing us into the grass. Flip flop and a broken tibial plateau. Anyway, surgery and pins later, two months of rehab and I'm back to racing again. Cyclists are a strange crew in that they are the most anal about the physical being or is it just me? I noted after the crash my dominant leg wasn't near as strong, duh. When something is encased in a splint for a month muscles tend to atrophy. I read up extensively on iso-kinetic and iso-linear exercises to bring it back online, but so far it hasn't made it back yet. Recently I went back to my Ortho and asked for X-rays and the PT for any info. I find out that my right leg is still less developed even though it's my dominant leg. Four years later. That just means more work work work.
So the moral is take care of yo stuff, cuz it only takes seconds to ruin what you've been building since birth. October 01 August. really? Why do I even read anymore?I looked at my pathetic blog posts lately now that it's October and the last posting is August. So if there are any more people still reading this, then it'd be a huge surprise. I've fallen victim to the microwave-cosm of Twitter. I can blast out a thought and get my fix in without actually having to sit down and collect pictures, video and God forbid a logical concious stream of point-counterpoint thought. Luhaaayzee is what I call it. So if you're still reading drop me a line and thanks very much for chewing on glass.
Wow, almost a year and a half ago I was getting coffee at the now defunct Park Circle Coffee and Cream when I was introduced to the mayor of North Charleston, Mayor Summey. The Mayor and I had a short, but fairly cool converstation that touched on the cycling infrastructure in North Charleston. Most notably a need for an artery from North Charleston to West Ashley and then the peninsula. Northbridge is the only logical route to W.A. since the only other bridge to W.A. is an interstate highway. Currently if you want to go to W.A., a cyclist has to go to the peninsula and back up to W.A. (my commute into work) in order to traverse a mile river crossing. So a mile car ride is an eight mile bike ride. Northbridge is a six lane bridge that spans the Ashley in North Charleston. Six lanes is insane for that bridge. There's not enough traffic to fill it on a traffic heavy day. If we could cut just one of those lanes out for a two way bike crossing, then that would cure alot of multipath user headaches. The only way to cross that bridge now by bike is to play traffic Frogger or wait for a bus to come pick you up so you can strap your bike on to the front of it and ride across free via CARTA. So what if we adopted a plan like New York city did for the BQE? Gav clicky on the link below for a video of the plan:
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