In case you haven’t heard….

RIAA to sue file sharers.

This was to be expected. There was a lively and interesting discussion on Slashdot about it (for extra credit, find my enlightening posts). In case you don’t, here’s what I think….

The RIAA sucks. No questions asked. They bleed consumers dry (the prices of CDs in the chain record stores hasn’t dropped much in recent years….in fact, many have gone up). They steal from their artists…well not quite stealing, but the bands get the smallest cut of the profits. And they are jerks, plain and simple. They’ve had the chance to use P2P as a new channel for distribution, but they’ve blown it. So what are we consumers to do?

First, let me say this. I still don’t know how I feel about the copyrights on music. Part of me thinks there shouldn’t be copyrights on music, but then I think, how are bands supposed to make any money? Most smaller bands don’t make much money when they tour, so they have to rely on record sales just to stay above water. The same goes for smaller record labels. Without income from CDs, tapes, and albums, they can’t sign artists and provide them with the resources to share their music. If only a small percentage of the population has to purchase a CD, everybody loses — the band, the record label, and eventually, the fans.

Now, I’ve downloaded my fair share of music, but I’ve gotten to the point where I will only download freely available music — that is, music that the record labels or bands have released for general consumption without payment. Of course, there still could be copyright violations if I in turn distributed that music, but I’m not, so I don’t worry much about that. So I download a few songs from artist A, decided whether or not I like them, then purchase their CD. If I can buy the CD directly from the record label, I do, otherwise I head to a local music store (indepedently owned).

So people want to know how to stick it to the RIAA. First, learn what record labels and artists are members (you’d be surprised who you find that list). Then boycott those folks. I know it’s hard, but don’t download their music, don’t buy their music, don’t go to their shows. Simply downloading their music via P2P doesn’t directly hurt the RIAA because they have a legal recourse against you. But when you buy other music, that does hurt them, because your purchases help the overall sales of music, but don’t put a cent into the hands of RIAA. Use your power as a consumer to hurt the RIAA legally.

Posted on 26 June 2003

Third Driver Rules Announced

The FIA has approved the new third driver rules for WRC factory teams. Simply put, a factory team can only two drivers who have place third or better in any rally from the previous season. That means Carlos Sainz, Harri Rovanpera, and Gilles Panizzi would be released from their teams at the end of the season. The factory teams will have a very different look next season…..

Posted on 25 June 2003

An interesting bit of news from the world of rallying…..

PSA duels for Seb Loeb. PSA is the group that owns both Peugeot and Citroen. Peugeot is looking to possibly add Loeb should the new driver’s rules be added for next season (the new rule would prohibit a team from having three drivers who have each taken a top three finish in a WRC round). Peugeot currently has four, but Richard Burns has begun talks with other teams, and Gilles Panizzi is clamoring for a full season next year. Harri Rovanpera would also like to compete for a full season.

Loeb and Gronholm would make a strong pairing, with each capable of winning just about any rally on the circuit. Setting Rovanpera and Panizzi free could mean a coup for teams like Hyundai and Skoda, as they could keep their current lineups (since none of the drivers have scored a top three lately) but still add a proven winner.

Posted on 25 June 2003

The NFL’s Chicago Bears are now officially sponsored by Bank One. Yes, that’s right….Bears football is “brought to you by Bank One.” Many people will decry this is commercialization of yet another pastime (as if football isn’t commercialized as is), but take a look at the football (soccer) clubs in Europe.

These club teams are the heart and soul of professional soccer. And every team has corporate logos plastered to their jerseys. That’s how Real Madrid can afford to pay Manchester United tens of millions of dollars for the services of David Beckham. That isn’t Beckham’s salary…that’s just how much Real Madrid paid to get Beckham.

Of course, the NFL doesn’t quite work that way, so additional corporate sponsorship could just mean bigger and bigger salaries for players. But it could also mean a more level playing field among the teams….now anyone can find a corporate sponsor and have access to millions more dollars, meaning the team can afford better players. Time will tell how it all works out…

Posted on 25 June 2003

I read an interesting series of threads on Slashdot over the last few days. First…..

Red Hat plans open source Java. At first I thought *oh, kewl*. A complete implementation of the JVM and JDK that is entirely open source _and_ endorsed by Sun (the Blackdown project already has an open source JVM, but it ain’t endorsed by Sun). Then I saw they planned to completely rewrite the JVM. Huh? That’s progress? Re-inventing the wheel? What?

A lot of open source folks only put up with Sun because they aren’t Microsoft. The Java API (and the JVM implementation released by Sun) isn’t open source. It is what Sun calls Community Source…meaning that there is a review board consisting of many people from the industry to oversee and steer Java development at Sun, but the source isn’t “open”, and Sun doesn’t appreciate it when you tinker with JVM without their permission (see Microsoft). I’m beginning to realize this is the downside of being an open source/free software zealot — you become so focused on the license of the software, and how it is developed, you lose sight of why you’re developing software in the first place. The Sun license isn’t very restrictive…anyone can download it and use it. Sure, it isn’t the GPL, but it’s plenty good for 99% of the development population. Why spend time and money rewriting the JVM? I just don’t get it.

Next interesting bit….a discussion on the if/when Linux will overtake OS X. The thread was quite interesting (and humorous). The general trend on Slashdot is that 80% of the folks that post to a discussion don’t read the linked article (or even the item description at the head of the thread). So a lot of the posts said *of course Linux will overtake OS X…it’s just a better server.* Well, duh. Apple didn’t introduce OS X to overtake Linux on the server (though it could, really).

Personally, I love OS X. I’ve got an old iMac at home (thanks Dave) and I like using it. All the little things are easy to do (pull photos off my digital camera? No problem. Pull video from my digital video camera? No problem. Write Python scripts? No problem.) The interface is beautiful. Now, if you run KDE with Liquid, the Linux UI looks a lot better, but Liquid doesn’t work too well with RedHat. In fact, my only complaint about the Mac? My CD-RW doesn’t work. I know, it’s partially my fault for not doing my homework, but I just plugged it into my Linux boxen, and it just worked, no driver needed. If OS X is built on BSD, shouldn’t it work there too? But that’s really a minor pain, and like I said, it’s partially my fault.

With the new G5s, Apple does have the chance to chip into the workstation market, though I think that might be a very very slow migration. For companies running Unix workstations (Suns and SGIs), the G5 could make a lot of sense, especially since you can run MS Office in OS X, eliminating the need for a Windoze machine for administrative tasks. It might be a bit harder to chip into the Linux workstation market, due to cost (you can buy a cheap refurbished Dell and throw a Linux distro on it for under $700), but I’d love to be on a G5 right now instead of a PC running RedHat…..

In other news…..

I’ve become slightly obsessed with purchasing a Vespa…..

Posted on 24 June 2003

Petter Solberg has won his second WRC event, beating Peugeot’s Harri Rovanpera by over a minute. There was never really any suspense on the final day, with Petter driving comfortably, and Rovanpera given team orders to bring his 206 home in one piece to score points in the maker’s championship. Seb Loeb took third, only 2 seconds behind Rovanpera, followed by the other Citroens of Colin McRae and Carlos Sainz. Sainz missed a golden opportunity to take the lead the driver’s championship with Richard Burns retiring on day 2, but it wasn’t to be — Sainz trails Burns by a single point. Ford’s youngest gun, Mikko Hirvonen took sixth. Also, I made a mistake yesterday saying Hyundai’s Armin Schwarz was out….he wasn’t, and he took seventh.

This changes the landscape of the driver’s championship a bit. After Burns and Sainz, Gronholm is third, and Solberg is now only a point behind in fourth. Markko Martin and Seb Loeb are just behind Solberg. The next string of rallies will be quite interesting and very competitive. With the tarmac events coming up, expect Loeb and Gilles Panizzi to move the front, but both Gronholm and Solberg have proven in the past they can be competitive on the sealed surface events as well.

Posted on 22 June 2003

What a day it was. Cyprus is living up to its billing as the toughest rally on this year’s circuit. Here’s a quick rundown on who didn’t make it through the day:

* Marcus Gronholm: propshaft. He ran on stage with front wheel drive only, then lost all power.
* Richard Burns: transmission. More issues with the gearbox. Not a good sign.
* Markko Martin: engine.
* Francois Duval: engine. Both Fords died nearly simultaneously.
* Tommi Makinen: more on this later.

Petter Solberg currently leads Harri Rovanpera by 25 seconds. Seb Loeb is almost 3 minutes behind Rovanpera in third, followed by Colin McRae and Carlos Sainz. This is Solberg’s rally to win or lose. Rovanpera has had some problems with his 206 already, but he’s managed to hang on so far, but the durability of the car will be in question given what’s happened to Burns and Gronholm. Solberg should be able to drive cautiously tomorrow (like he said he was doing today) so I expect that he’ll take first, but who knows what will happen.

More on Tommi…..Makinen was looking good at the beginning of the day, taking SS5 and putting himself in contention. Then he smashed his rear wheel on SS6, and took nearly 20 minutes to get the car going again. He finished the stage, but made it to the start of SS7 too late, though he continued to run. In fact, he did more than run. Tommi proved he was still quite a driver by taking three more stage wins before being informed that he was disqualified for his time violation between SS6 and SS7. This is again quite a frustrating year for Makinen. He’s proven that he’s still a force, but loads of bad luck have kept him off the podium (besides his second place in Sweden).

Speaking of bad luck…Hyundai will not finish a car again. Both Loix and Schwarz have retired, and Skoda will have his points streak broken as Auriol and Gardemeister are both out. Expect good things from the debut of the new Fabia in Germany though.

Citroen is having a good rally, despite only having a shot at putting on driver on the podium. All three cars look good to finish the event. This will give them enough points (regardless of what Rovanpera does) to take the lead in the maker’s championship. Quite an achievement for a team running its first full WRC season.

Posted on 21 June 2003

A short day to start to the Cyprus rally, though two stages were over 38km in length, making it a rough day in the intense heat. Peugeot has shown speed early, with Harri Rovanpera leading the rally til the last stage (when Marcus Gronholm snatched the lead) and Gilles Panizzi, in the privateer 206, holding 2nd til the last stage as well (he currently sits in 4th). Subaru was looking to have a great rally, with Tommi Makinen and Petter Solberg both in the top five, but then disaster struck on SS4, and Tommi ran into steering problems, causing him to loose stacks of time on the leaders. Solberg ran well however, and sits in 3rd, only 10 seconds behind Gronholm. Given what Petter’s strategy was to be (relax on day one and just survive, then put his foot down on days two and three) you’ve got to think he’ll be competing for the top step on the podium.

Seb Loeb is holding down 5th place at the moment, 40 seconds off the pace. The rest of the top ten drops off quite a bit, with Markko Martin, Carlos Sainz, Colin McRae, and Richard Burns all over a minute behind the leaders. Burns probably has the best shot at gaining ground tomorrow, as he played the role of road sweeper running first today. The rest of the lot just has to hope that the leaders run into trouble….

Posted on 20 June 2003

Woo hoo! Seb slept for about 7.5 hours last night. Amazing. It was quite nice to get that much at one time.

In other news…the cloth diaper thing has been quite an adventure. Lots of frustration and stress, as you really can’t let him sit in a wet diaper for very long. At least the covers we bought aren’t leaking at all.

Posted on 19 June 2003

If you’re a sports fan, this time of year really sorta stinks. The NHL and NBA playoffs are finished, leaving us with just Major League Baseball. Sure, if you live in NYC or Boston, it might be an exciting thing to look forward to, but here in Pittsburgh it means having only depressing news about the Pirates on a regular basis. Blech. Fortunately, the WRC calendar is quite full at this time of year (rallies only a few weeks apart), and it’s only a few more weeks til the Tour de France, so that will fill the sports pages (at least on obscure websites) for a month or so.

So, with that in mind, here’s my expert (*cough cough*) analysis for this weekend’s Cyprus Rally….

This will be Markko Martin’s rally to win. Despite what the Ford team is saying (that they don’t expect a good result), don’t believe the hype. Martin may not like the Cyprus rally (it is terribly slow and technical — on most of the stages the cars won’t even see 5th gear), but he can become a contender in the driver’s championship with a good result here. Francois Duval has got be pretty desperate for a good result — heck, he’d be happy to actually drive on Sunday — but his problems have been an issue of car reliability more than driving ability.

Citroen is expecting a good result this weekend. Carlos Sainz should climb further into the thick of the driver’s championship, as he excels in Cyprus. Coln McRae should also be gunning for a good result, especially after watching his chances in Greece all but disappear with a 50 second service penalty. Seb Loeb has dropped off the radar with a string of retirements, but you can’t discount the Frenchman’s ability. The Xsara has proven itself to be a reliable car so far this year, so expect to see at least on the boys on the podium come Sunday.

Petter Solberg will also be gunning for his second WRC win. Expect Petter to follow the recipe he used in Greece — get through the first day, then put the hammer down. He should have given Martin a run for his money in Greece, but driveshaft issues and a run-in with Colin McRae kept him in third place. Tommi Makinen hasn’t really found his form as of late, and he said he wasn’t happy with his setup in Greece. Despite his problems, he still finished in the top ten, so if Tommi can get the kinks worked out, he should do well, and score some points for Subaru.

Ahh…Peugeot. After looking unbeatable earlier in the season, suddenly Marcus Gronholm looks human again. Marcus needs to score this weekend, though he’s not a big fan of this rally. If the team engineers haven’t worked out the little problems with the 206, it could be another early exit. Richard Burns is looking to extend his championship lead with a good result here, though he’s got to keep his eyes on Carlos Sainz. Burns’ 206 has been reliable, though he had gearbox problems throughout Greece, so he should at least see the finish line on Sunday. Harri Rovanpera also needs a good result this weekend. He’s had a horrible run of luck this season, and with the potential new drivers’ rules for next season, he could be out at Peugeot. Though Gilles Panizzi won’t be in a factory car this weekend, he made news this week by saying he will contest every rally next season in a full factory car — whether it’s a 206 or something else. Panizzi has proven he can run on the loose surfaces, so Peugeot will be forced to make a hard decision over the winter about whether or not keep the tarmac ace.

Skoda has scored on every rally this year — again a testament to Didier Auriol’s contributions to the team. This will be last event for the oafish Octavia, as the new Fabia will debut next month in Germany. Will the Octavia’s extreme reliability is an asset in Cyprus, it’s lack of dexterity is a detriment. Even so, expect Auriol and Gardimeister to score points again this weekend.

Poor poor Hyundai. Running on the cheap this year, no time or money to test, and only 3 points in the manufacturer’s race. These guys need to score some points, soon. Both Freddy Loix and Armin Scharwz have the ability to do well, it’s just a matter of the WRC Accent actually finishing the event.

My choices:
1. Petter Solberg
2. Carlos Sainz
3. Markko Martin
4. Richard Burns
5. Colin McRae

Posted on 18 June 2003