Even More Sony DRM/Root Kit Goodness

This is the story that never ends, it just does on and on my friends!
Once people started reporting it, not knowing what it was
and it goes on forever and forever just because....

Nothing particularly new and revelatory except for a good quote from the Texas Attorney General on their law suit. But there is one very remarkable thing... MAJOR hit on CD sales! The Van Zant album was #882 on the Amazon charts on Nov. 2, overnight it dropped to 1392, by 11/22 it was 25,802. Little bit of a drop.

Also a lot of musicians and managers losing their gruntleness and becoming disgruntled.

http://businessweek.com/technology/content/nov2005/tc20051122_343542.htm

American Automakers Having Fun!

http://www.slate.com/id/2130797/

The Big Three automakers spun off some of their internal parts suppliers into independent organizations a few years ago, and now these parts makers are dying. Delco filed for bankruptcy in October. Ford is buying back part of their suppliers to try and keep them solvent. Basically a lot of the automaker's recent promotions have been financed on the back of these parts suppliers, little things like zero percent financing and my personal favorite, employee discounts extended to the public. I particularly liked the following paragraph:

"But when prices for steel and oil—the main input for plastic—started to rise a few years ago, instead of compensating suppliers for higher costs, the automakers continued to demand lower prices. As the Detroit News notes, GM in 2003 kicked off a program to get suppliers to cut prices by 20 percent by 2005. For suppliers, raw materials can account for half of total costs. And when the price of oil, steel, and other metals like copper began to rise, the suppliers were out of luck."

I know they're not, but are you listening, WalMart? There are companies that won't deal with WalMart because of WM's constant demand that they lower prices, I wish I knew of a list because I'd like to proverbially shake their hand. As one comedian said, if they're constantly cutting prices, why isn't everything free? I don't have much choice in Alamogordo except to shop at WalMart, but I have changed my ways: when shopping, I buy all I can at Lowe's (grocer, not home improvement), then I go to WM. It costs me money, but it doesn't incur as much a karmic burdon. But the thing that I find most amusing is that there's a lot of stuff that I buy that WM doesn't carry and Lowe's does! WM's supposed to be such a mega store, but I think Safeway or Albertson's has a better selection.

A comic for all you Snape Slashers out there

(my wife included)

http://crap.jinwicked.com/imgs/comics/20051117.jpg

Battle Imps!

Thewayne's Battle Imp is

Eaery

Backstabbing: 5 Dodgin': 5 Guts: 7 Magic Mojo: 2 Smackdown: 7

</td> Will your battle imp beat Thewayne's? Enter your name and fight.