cancelled one of my credit cards today because i was so cheezed off by their crappy customer support.
Category: Legacy
stephen kings new internet experiment seems to be something along the lines of counterpane’s street performer protocol. the idea is that if paythrough surpasses 75% of the downloads, he’ll write another installment. personally, i think that while the idea can work, asking for checks or money orders is silly (paypal anyone?). also, it’d be fairer to readers to also set a solid dollar threshold – i mean, come on, if he ends up getting a million downloads, but only 50% pay, will the half million not be fair compensation for his work? would that be fair to the people who paid in good faith? it can be that even that the 50% who didn’t pay (or even 30%) just didn’t like the book…
with all that being said, however, i have to say that the idea brings a smile to my face. it’s a good first step. incremental improvements: create an automatic account for each person who buys a book. give them an option to participate within a community w/ there purchase. provide personalization (store the books for em, etc.) that’s only available with a purchase. i think that ultimately, that’s the best way to sell digital, provide value adds that make it better and simpler to buy than steal. i do share stephen kings opinion that most people do fundamentally want to support artists. it’s just being made too inconvenient right now.
He who controls the past controls the future. He who controls the present controls the past. — George Orwell, 1984, 1948
Cybersenator Defends the Net. this is a cool little piece in last week’s nytimes about senator Patrick J Leahy. it’s nice to know that there’s someone on our side in there.
i was rereading the dune, 7th book speculation, and have started reading the fanfic dune revenant. hopefully it won’t suck.
beast machines looks interesting, but i wonder how it affects the old cartoon / comics continuity. in my quest to find out some more, i happened upon a great transformers site that has a complete comic book guide recapping everything that happened. you can start from issue 1 and relive it all!
it took quite a while, but having found a link to brainbench i was committed to taking a test or two. as a result, after about two hours, i’m now certified as a master in both html and web programming. fun, took a lot of time to do (it’s comprehensive, but no too hard with references handy).
ah, cool, more people latching onto copyright defenders’ use of newspeak.
Spoof! An Insiders Guide to Short Film Success on ifilm. interesting to note that william sherak, one of the writer/directors is son of fox exec tom sherak. also interesting is the guy that play the writer is drew mcweeny, aka moriarty on aicn.