Raven's View

We've all heard the simplistic correlation between downloading (as in illegally) music from the Internet and the potential demise of the record (CD) industry. So nice to see an article discussing other factors, and suggesting maybe it's partially the fault of the industry itself, and their marketing decisions. A number of artists are now choosing to release a few tracks free on the net, or the whole album, the rational being that the increased exposure is worth it. The group Super Smart in Germany has taken it a step futher and releasesd only as those polymorphic tones you downoad for cell phone rings - at so much a pop of course.

Yesterday was a beautiful day in the neighbourhood. Windy but sunny and at least 23C (296K for the non-centigrade readers). So I walked up to the local pub (25 mins), sat in the sun, watched the other people, did some work via my cell, enjoyed a couple of cold pints and some spring rolls, flirted with the waiter, then walked back home.
The net balance? I think one has to 'weigh' the pleasures of socializing, relaxing in the sun (yes mother, without my sun-block), and the modest exercise, along with any narrow-minded caloric plus/minus considerations

Found a neat site full of Flash - games, movies, audio. Warning, this can be addictive. Do you like oriental women? Or maybe a mindless game?

Haven't been here for a while, so figured the weather always makes a good ice-breaker. Especially in Ottawa in the Spring - forecast for tonight is -3C. (For those non-centigrade users, you'll have to convert it to Kelvin yourself.) I was listening to CBC Radio this afternoon - because that's something us teleworkers do - and they gave the weather for Kingston as "distant precipitation". A lot of help that is - there's precipitation, but not in Kingston, it's somewhere in the distance, but we won't even tell you in what direction. They also probably had distant clouds, distant snow, and a distant tornado.
I was out and about Sunday and there was nothing distant about the weather then - cold, windy, started to rain, then changed to little pellets of freezing rain driving themsleves right into my face.