A Singer, A Song

“Some people are like slinkies: not really good for anything, but they bring a smile to your face when you push them down the stairs.”

via boingboing:

Hey suckers! Did you buy DRM music from Wal*Mart instead of downloading MP3s for free from the P2P networks? Well, they’re repaying your honesty by taking away your music. Unless you go through a bunch of hoops (that you may never find out about, if you’ve changed email addresses or if you’re not a very technical person), your music will no longer be playable after October 9th.

But don’t worry, this will never ever happen to all those other DRM companies — unlike little fly-by-night mom-and-pop operations like Wal*Mart, the DRM companies are rock-ribbed veterans of commerce and industry, sure to be here for a thousand years. So go on buying your Audible books, your iTunes DRM songs, your Zune media, your EA games… None of these companies will ever disappear, nor will the third-party DRM suppliers they use. They are as solid and permanent as Commodore, Atari, the Soviet Union, the American credit system and the Roman Empire.

Boy, the entertainment industry sure makes a good case for ripping them off, huh? Buy your media and risk having it confiscated by a DRM-server shutdown. Take it for free and keep it forever.

Keep reading… there’s more in the original article, including a copy of the email sent out by Wal-Mart.

I’m against the $85,000,000,000.00 bailout of AIG. Instead, I’m in favor of giving $85,000,000,000 to America in a We Deserve It Dividend. To make the math simple, let’s assume there are 200,000,000 bonafide U.S. Citizens 18+. Our population is about 301,000,000 +/- counting every man, woman and child. So 200,000,000 might be a fair stab at adults 18 and up. So divide 200 million adults 18+ into $85 billon that equals $425,000.00. My plan is to give $425,000 to every person 18+ as a We Deserve It Dividend. Of course, it would NOT be tax free. So let’s assume a tax rate of 30%. Every individual 18+ has to pay $127,500.00 in taxes. That sends $25,500,000,000 right back to Uncle Sam. But it means that every adult 18+ has $297,500.00 in their pocket. A husband and wife has $595,000.00. What would you do with $297,500.00 to $595,000.00 in your family?

* Pay off your mortgage - housing crisis solved.
* Repay college loans - what a great boost to new grads
* Put away money for college - it’ll be there
* Save in a bank - create money to loan to entrepreneurs.
* Buy a new car - create jobs
* Invest in the market - capital drives growth
* Pay for your parent’s medical insurance - health care improves
* Enable Deadbeat Dads to come clean - or else

Remember this is for every adult U S Citizen 18+ including the folks who lost their jobs at Lehman Brothers and every other company that is cutting back. And of course, for those serving in our Armed Forces. If we’re going to re-distribute wealth let’s really do it… instead of trickling out a puny $1000.00 (”vote buy”) economic incentive that is being proposed by one of our candidates for President. If we’re going to do an $85 billion bailout, let’s bail out every adult U. S. Citizen 18+!

As for AIG - liquidate it. Sell off its parts. Let American General go back to being American General. Sell off the real estate. Let the private sector bargain hunters cut it up and clean it up.

Here’s my rationale. We deserve it and AIG doesn’t. Sure it’s a crazy idea that can “never work.” But can you imagine the Coast-To-Coast Block Party!

How do you spell Economic Boom? I trust my fellow adult Americans to know how to use the $85 Billion. We Deserve It Dividend more than I do the geniuses at AIG or in Washington DC. And remember, The Birk plan only really costs $59.5 Billionbecause $25.5 Billion is returned instantly in taxes to Uncle Sam.

Ahhh…I feel so much better getting that off my chest.

Birk
T. J. Birkenmeier, A Creative Guy & Citizen of the Republic

I’m not sure that the motivating philosophy is exactly spot-on, but this is still a very, very good thing.

Why this project?

Never in history have so many people had so much information, so many tools at their disposal, so many ways of making good ideas come to life. Yet at the same time, so many people, of all walks of life, could use so much help, in both little ways and big.

In the midst of this, new studies are reinforcing the simple wisdom that beyond a certain very basic level of material wealth, the only thing that increases individual happiness over time is helping other people.

In other words, helping helps everybody, helper and helped alike.

Now this is a sensible stateswoman.

Last night I got a call from a collection agency named Zenith Aquisition. They insist that in March, 2000 I made a purchase of $340 for merchandise (get this) from the Franklin Mint. It was shipped to someone living on Strange Road in Taylors, SC. I’ve never lived there, never known anyone who’s lived there. Through something called a “skiptrace” they found my current phone number and called to chat.

What did I purchase? They can’t tell me. Can they give me a credit card number? No, the credit account was set up through the Franklin Mint. But you know what? For just $34, they’ll stop calling me. When I called that kind of a tactic despicable extortion, the representative took offense. “Honey,” she said, “don’t call me despicable. I guarantee you I’m the nicest person in collections.” M-hm.

Never mind that the Statute of Limitations ran out on collecting this money in 2003. Never mind that I never made the purchase in the first place. Never mind all of those details. They want their money.

Infuriating.