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Warning: The following nerd rant may not be suitable for some readers.

Lurking on Slashdot the other day, I ran across an article that finally convinced me to try legalizing my mp3 habit. The article dealt with the RIAA losing a lawsuit against a couple of peer-to-peer (mp3 swapping) software companies, but it was the barrage of jubilant Slashdot reader comments that floored me. I believe the ruling was fair, but here were hundreds of intelligent people—software engineers, real engineers, nerds of other persuasions—hailing it as a confirmation of their God-given right to freely trade copyrighted music, missing the point entirely. Admittedly, yours truly has often dabbled in the illicit mp3 trade, but I also believe that artists, producers, labels, and everyone else in the business have every right to charge money for their music. If they want to get serious about enforcing their copyrights, how can we object? Yes, the industry has been terribly slow in updating their business models to accommodate the Internet, and yes, they should learn to tolerate mp3 swapping until they can offer a reasonable (convenient) alternative. I just take issue with the free lunch advocates — those who argue that music, software, and intellectual property in general should be free and that companies should evolve accordingly. If the cold war were still on, I’d grumble and call them communists. Instead, I’ll just call them morons. Anyway, out of spite for the mp3-or-die crowd, I recently signed up for Rhapsody, a pay service that lets you stream and burn major-label tracks. First impressions are that the service is awesome, but it needs a larger catalog of music. There is sooo much potential for this concept to replace CDs once the labels and artists conquer their mp3-induced Internet fears.

As for the related topic of open-source software, I’ll be brief. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and for all of their anti-Microsoft bitching, the open-source crowd spends an awful lot of time mimicking existing Windows products. Face it: Windows is still the best consumer OS for the PC, and Linux will remain in second place as long as it tries only to follow Windows’ lead. Also, open source advocates’ frequent use of “M$” as an insult only underscores some of the problems with open-source as a business model. I generally have no problem with open-source development and have participated in it myself, but enough with the mindless Microsoft-bashing. As Mark might say, this is intellectual laziness.

Okay, I’m done.

I awoke at 7:00 this morning after four hours of sleep and couldn’t fall back asleep; somebody must have lit a fire under my ass [Insert cliché action movie call to arms here, such as “It’s go time” or “Lock and load”]. Something about the semester being almost over, blah blah blah, three projects to finish, yadda yadda yadda, a thesis to write, etc. In other words, little more than the date has changed in the last month. Step 1: Update blog. Step 2: ??? Step 3: Look back on grad school accomplishments.

Speaking of fire, Rachel made blackened salmon last night. That was some fine fish, but my respiratory system is still reeling from a severe case of smoke inhalation. Previous blackening episodes have left one or two rooms in the apartment relatively smoke-free, but Rachel went all-out this time. There was so much smoke that a thick layer formed three feet off the ground, extending to the ceiling and eliminating any chance of normal breathing while standing, just like in those fire safety videos where they light the curtains on fire and the temperature rises to 3000 degrees within two minutes. Falling back on my elementary school training from the Urbana Fire Department, I dropped to the ground and crawled over to my window, crouching there and gasping for precious fresh air for a few minutes while the place aired out. Dave one-upped me with a damp cloth, enabling him to enter the kitchen long enough to fetch his plate and retreat back to his room to eat while the food was still hot. Rachel and the cats were strangely unaffected, going about their business as usual.

Tomorrow: A much-needed rant about no-free-lunch, the open source movement, and why kneejerk anti-RIAA types have persuaded me to kick my Kazaa habit.

The “solution” to this puzzle has been bothering me. It states that “the circle is NOT the only shape with constant diameter,” but I say the circle IS the only [2D] shape with constant diameter! Lots of other shapes can satisfy the “manhole” problem, but only the circle has constant diameter — defined as “a chord passing through the center of a figure or body” (Webster). The problem with any non-circular manhole shape is that its constant-length “diameters” do not all pass through the geometric center. Because this puzzle was posted in a .edu domain and due to the fact that I’ve seen similar claims elsewhere on sciency websites, I feel the need to set the record straight. Please correct me if I’m missing something.

Sorry, I just had to get that off my chest.

This weekend I hung one of those multi-photo frames on my wall, and now the photos keep falling toward the bottom of the frame whenever the guy upstairs stomps around — which is, at last estimate, 22 hours per day (he sleeps from 1-3 p.m.). I would sleep in the living room, but Dave and his Physics friend have been spending 15 hours per day there playing Zelda — literally. That would even be acceptable, were it not for Physics Guy’s personal hygiene issues (featuring the furniture-permeating power of super-concentrated B.O.!). Okay, now I’m being mean, but the August move is still looking awfully good right about now.

Speaking of the move, did I mention that we will be living next to a corn field? Like most corn in Illinois, the ears grown in this field are destined for gas tanks or cow stomachs — and ultimately next year’s corn fields. Nevertheless, I’m determined to find out what “feed” corn really tastes like.

We drove to Peoria this weekend to pick out tuxedos for the wedding. Yup, Peoria. It’s everything we imagined, and more. Groomsmen: I’ll try to remember to send an email between now and September, but if you happen to find yourself in a Men’s Warehouse having measurements taken in the meantime, be sure to mention the Dimock/Michaud wedding so they can hook you up.

It should be abundantly clear by now that I have very little to report, so you may want to check out this other, crappier website instead.

Carl — there will be plenty of bird updates soon.

Huge thanks to Mike who sent me the most AWESOME jewelry set for the wedding day.

Isn’t it great? I think the ring is WAY better than the ring Glen picked out. Thank you Mike! I was most worried about finding the appropriate jewelry! And, as a special bonus, it came with a swell purse to carry the jewelry in when I’m not wearing it (so not too often!). Hey ladies, if you want to get a great set like this for yourself, it’s made by the most exclusive designer “Little Miss.” It’s the “Bridal Jewelry Set” and is available in only the finest stores. It’s only for ages 5 & up though, so don’t give it to your 4 year old bride-to-be.