“Nobody listens any more. i can’t talk to the walls because they’re yelling at me. I can’t talk to my wife; she listens to the walls. I just want someone to hear what I have to say. And maybe if I talk long enough, it’ll make sense.”
-”Fahrenheight 451″, Ray Bradbury

i’ve only just now begun reading this book. well, actually i started last weekend. i’m amazed, and a little disappointed that i haven’t read it before now. it’s a little slow at the beginning, very existential and difficult to understand. Bradbury switches seamlessly between literal and metaphorical descriptions of what’s happening, and to be honest, i was a little confused at some points. but, the second part of the book starts the excitement and danger of working against the machine of a society that sacrifices intelligence for happiness.

it is an incredible expansion of the idea that “ignorance is bliss.”

one of the most interesting points (so far) is that the censorship was (apparently) not a government-mandated policy. it seems that the movement of firemen from people who put out fires to people who start fires was a natural progression of a society that was obsessed with not offending any part of their society.

Today, the web is silent. Oh, the chattering classes of bloggers will continue to comment, ridicule and converse as liberally as ever. But the radio stations are silent. Thousands of streaming audio stations from the tiniest indie stations, midsize companies like radioIO to media giants like Yahoo! and MTV will either cease streaming altogether, or play static interspersed with public awareness announcements.

Why?

They are protesting a grossly unfair copyright fee being assessed to Internet radio, a fee that is so enormous that this one fee alone in most cases adds up to over 100% of a company’s total revenue. This threatens to shut down the entire Internet radio industry on July 15 2007. Wack, huh? We don’t get it either especially since broadcast radio is totally exempt from the fee and satellite radio pays a small percentage of their revenue for the same fee. It’s unfair and one act in congress can overturn it and give the small businesses of Internet radio parity with satellite radio fees. That act is “The Internet Radio Equality Act” and it’s working it’s way through congress but not fast enough. Internet radio’s bill for this fee comes due on July 15 (retroactive to Jan. 2006) so it needs co-sponsors right away and that’s where this protest comes in. The belief is today’s silencing would draw attention to what a big part of your day Internet radio is and the hope is that you will pick up the phone and call congress on internet radio’s behalf. We know phone calls from constituents work better than email. With the support of net radio listeners there are over 120 co sponsors on the House side but the senate side is sorely lacking.

According to Lawbean:

In March, the Copyright Royalty Board announced that it would raise royalties for Internet broadcasters, moving them from a per-song rate to a per-listener rate. The increase would be made retroactive to the beginning of 2006 and would double over the next five years. After the announcement, a group of broadcasters spearheaded by National Public Radio petitioned the CRB for a rehearing, but a panel of judges denied the request less than a month later. Internet radio sites would be charged per performance of a song. A “performance” is defined as the streaming of one song to one listener; thus a station that has an average audience of 500 listeners racks up 500 “performances” for each song it plays.

According to Kurt Hanson’s Radio and Internet Newsletter:

? the royalty rate decision ? for the performance alone, not even including composers’ royalties! ? is in the in the ballpark of 100% or more of total revenues.

The new royalty rates will go into effect on July 15, 2007, retroactive to January 1, 2006. More than a few Internet broadcasters will likely cease business on that day. Or, they may just move offshore. If they do that, though, what that likely means is that terrestrial broadcasters who broadcast a simultaneous internet stream will cut the internet stream.

If you believe in Internet Radio (and I do!), and want to save it, here’s what you can do.

1. If you live in the US, call your representatives and senators. Get their numbers at congress.org just by putting in your zip code. Call their regional office or their D.C. office or both. Ask for the staffer in charge of internet issues and tell him you want your lawmaker to co sponsor the Internet radio equality act. Tell them how much Internet radio means to you. More information is available at savenetradio.org. The law as it stands now is bad for artists, indie labels and small business.
2. Copy and paste this blog entry into your own blogs, email lists and bulletins.
3. If you write a blog, discuss this issue. If you don’t write a blog, join the discussion on somebody else’s blog. If you prefer Facebook, join any of the nine Save Net Radio discussion groups that have been created there, and join the discussion.
4. Donate to the SaveNetRadio campaign. If you’re a Facebook user, install the Causes app, join the SaveNetRadio cause, donate money and get others to join. They’re both easy!

Here is a partial list of some of the media organizations participating.

Yahoo!, Live365 stations, Rhapsody, MTV Online, AccuRadio, KCRW (Santa Monica, CA), Pandora, RadioIO, DigitallyImported, RadioParadise, 3WK, myMVY, Wizard Radio, Born Again Radio, Pearadio.com, Ear.fm, WGLI (Bablylon, NY), WMUK (Kalamazoo, MI), Head-On Radio Network, Zecom/Gemz Radio, monkeygrip music cafe, KFCF (Fresno, CA), LuckySevenRadio.com, Blue Power/Guitar Speak, PNA (Oak Park, IL), 60’s Chicks Radio/Seasons & Celebrations Radio, STAR 107.9, WRPS/WebRadioPugetSound, Puregold Rock ‘N Roll, NeverEndingWonder Radio, RadioMilwaukee, BAGeL Radio, Gotradio/100hitz, KDUN (Reedsport, OR), GDRadio.net, KQLZ (Los Angeles, CA), XPR/KXJZ (Sacramento, CA), NiceNoise.Net, BlackLight Radio, Pure Pop 24/7, Smooth Jazz and More, Reggae Nostalgia, WCH Radio/The Wave, WYGS Southern Gospel Radio Network, BluegrassCountry.org/WAMU.org, WRAJ Internet Radio

The time to act is now. Today. Because in three weeks time it will be too late.

i meant to post this a few days ago, when we were actually getting the snow-on-my-pants. but now is as good a time as ever. plus, it makes the news even less relavent now that we’ve had a few days that were really pretty nice. i also meant to take a picture to prove it. but i didn’t think of it soon enough, and the snow-on-my-pants melted before i had time to get my phone out. it started in the morning, with a moderate rain. at my chiropractor’s office someone was talking about getting snow up north. and when i got home, i noted to myself that the rain was falling awfully slowly, and had a particular quality of whiteness about it. and then i realized that it was actually snow. that evening, there were several periods of severe snow-on-my-pants. but fortunately (or unfortunately, depending your take on snow-on-my-pants) the ground wasn’t frozen; it didn’t stick very long.

this marks the first time i’ve ever seen snow-on-my-pants in the month of october. i’m pretty sure i’ve seen snow-on-my-pants in november, but october? that’s just crazy!

also, on the day of the snow-on-my-pants, there was an epoxy manufacturing plant that kind of blew up in St. Paul. amazingly, noone was hurt, and the air-quality monitors did not deem it necessary to evacuate the residential areas nearby. they did slow down traffic on 494 (or was it 694?) for a while. but, like i said. noone was hurt. i do think there was a misunderstanding among the local anchor-people. their on-site reporter was either covered with snow-on-his-jacket or some ash from the fire. i thought i heard him say that it was ash, but several people made comments later on about the snow-on-his-jacket. so, i dunno. i’m just glad he didn’t have any snow-on-my-pants on his jacket. that would’ve been embarassing.

many of you have thought to yourself at one point or another “Am I really getting as good a shave as possible?” unless you are using the olde worlde implements, i can guaruntee that you are not. to get the perfect shave you must have three things: a badger hair brush, a non-disposable razer and some olde fashioned shaving soap. you can spend ridiculous amounts of money on all three of these things, but i can tell you from just one experience that you don’t need the most expensive implements to give yourself a better shave.

i started out with a cheap boar’s hair brush and some cheap soap from Walgreens. with just these minor changes in my shaving routine, i was experiencing a better shave. i continued to use an older (not that old) Gilette Atra handle & disposable razor heads for a while, but i knew there had to be something better. so i just upgraded to a genuine, hand-made badger hair brush and a German made double-edged safety razor. i feel confident in saying that this was among the best decisions i have ever made. honestly, i think even had i only purchased the brush, my shaving experience would have improved significantly. but the combination took my most recent shaving experience beyond my wildest imagination.

i haven’t yet experienced The Perfect Shave just yet, but i can tell you this: there is only one thing in this world that is better than the shave i just had.