punishment would be a deterrent.....

We have been having a discussion over on the GeezerGamer boards about DRM & anti-piracy devices. We also have gotten into a discussion about the general behavior of "the masses" on Xbox Live and Playstation Network (which you could extrapolate to the internet as a whole), but I'll save that for another post.

While in the discussions I have felt DRM and devices like it, are just part of the world we live in today, others have an opposite view that they are "paying" an extra price for being a good person who would not be inclined to steal or pirate material. I agree 100% with them, but I look at it from the business / company side of the equation, that business is just trying to "protect their own".

One of the other guys in the discussion mentioned enforcement, and he is completely correct with his thoughts and statement. At the end of the day, it is lack of enforcement of rules and laws which is making "good people pay for bad ones".

The are laws and rules for almost everything we do, but it seems that for some, those rules are silly, so not really meant for them. A good example is when the record industry does prosecute someone for piracy. There is a section of our society that looks at it and thinks those rules are unfair, and that the punishment is unjust. They might be right, but those are the rules in place now. Don't like them, try to change them.

But sometimes I can see the "bad guys" point and say, why can't I ignore the rules. Others do and are not punished. Just look at the Secretary of the Treasury who is in charge of the IRS. He did not pay his taxes in an honest or timely fashion, and he ends up getting rewarded at the end of the day with a Cabinet post. I'm not saying he should have gone to jail, but being disqualified from that particular job would have said, "your actions have caused you not to be able to get this position". Instead it was just swept away.

I have 300+ clients who don't think the tax code is fair, but they, and I, don't go around breaking the law. If we did, a punishment could be served.

So at the end of the day, I could blanket many areas with this. Bottom line is, we have rules and laws. Break them and there will be consequences. The consequences may seem harsh to some, but they are usually there in black & white. Crime should equal punishment. That is the way as a society we can take back what is rightfully ours, and by that I mean "paying" because of bad behavior.

We as the "good guys" just need to have a voice and make sure we let others know that we follow the rules and don't like being punished because some do not.

Until the next time.....

market fresh.....

Not much going on right now besides the landscapers finishing up our yard. They should wrap up everything tomorrow sometime in the midday. So far it all looks great, but I can't wait to see it all "put together".



Cassie got her haircut today to look like Hayley Williams of Paramore (pictured). Cassie really likes the band and Hayley, and they are a nice band for her to admire. The haircut looks great and Cassie is really happy with it.

Morgan has been stopping by the NC State Farmer's Market the past few Saturdays to pick up different fruits and vegtables for us to try. I like to eat berries and either an apple or pear every morning, so we started picking up my breakfast fruit from the market.

It has been nice to try out a few different items that we normally don't have for or with a meal. Morgan asn't crazy about collard greens, but I enjoyed them. I enjoyed even more the fresh lima beans that Morgan prepared for me. I also bought a jar of chow chow for myself to have with chicken of maybe a turkey burger, but have not had a chance to try it yet.

Kellie and her husband have given us a large bag of squash and an equally large bag of fresh string beans for us to eat. It was very nice of them, and greatly appreciated, as I have been enjoying all this fresh food.

NHL schedule is released tomorrow. Will be marking my calander for what night we will be at the arena. Less then 3 months before the hockey season starts up again.

That's it for now. Hope to have some yard pictures for the next post.

Until the next time.....

noisy around here.....

They finally started building the house next door to us (to our left if looking from street), so the noise has begun. It is not terrible at this point, and probably won't be too bad, but that is easy for me to say as I am not trying to broadcast 4 hours a day like my Morgan does every morning.

She has some "sound foam" in the office that she might have to strategically place around the desk / mic to soften the noise, but for the most part she is not overly concerned. I am just glad it is going on during the summer when we have the windows closed, and not after September when we open the house up. This is especially true because this building is on the same side as her studio / office.

Maybe this means we might get some new neighbors eventually. I see plenty of people around when I walk the neighborhood each morning, but then I turn on our block, and nothing. Of course I say this a day before the landscapers come to plant trees to give us more privacy in the backyard, and to cover up and give shade to the front of the house. :-)

Otherwise it is quiet around here. Well, in the house. :-)

Until the next time.....

office works.....

Sometime around 2am on Wednesday morning, the last of the files uploaded from my electronic filing cabinet to the servers over at my new "office". Did some random checking, and everything seemed to be there. Woo Hoo!

Finally started working with the network yesterday, and once loaded, I had to make some tweaks to some personal preference settings, but once that was done, everything worked flawlessly. It was nice to work that way, and once done, just shut it down, and not worry about backing up, putting the backups in a safe place, etc.

On Wednesday, I finally got the tattoo of Morgan completed. Took over 3 1/2 hours, and it looks great. There are a few minor cleanups that need to be taken care of once I heal at the end of the month, but that is pretty normal. I posted some pictures on Facebook during the process, and will post some here of the completed, healed tattoo in a future posting.

Wednesday morning Cassie left for another week of camp. This time up in Virginia, and through our church and their student ministries. She returns late Monday afternoon, and then will spend the rest of her summer here at home. Even though Morgan and I like having this "alone time", it will be nice to have her around for the five weeks or so before school starts.

That's it for now, as I have some catch-up work to do and figure I can get it done while others take today off. Have a happy and safe 4th of July.

Until the next time.....