Video testing

Thought I'd try and upload one of the videos that I tried to send from picasa a while ago that didn't actually work. Hopefully they work now!






These are both of a couple days ago, when he was still in the hospital. He's on his billy bed here, but thankfully he's now all better!

End of RIAA Lawsuits (For a week at least)

Today there was some surprising news revealed by the RIAA. The RIAA has been involved for a long time in a public relations disaster, suing people that pirate and share the music of their artists. Protecting copyright in not necessarily a bad thing, but the RIAA really botched the whole process. From suing dead people to 10 year olds, to people who didnt even own a computer, they really have done a bad job. Today they announced that they would (finally) stop prosocuting individual file-sharers. At first when I saw the headlines, I expected (foolishly) an accompanying announcement about a rollout of a new, relevant, online store to purchase music at a reasonable price, or otherwise rearrange its business model to join the 21st century. Nope.

Instead what they are doing is outsourcing the bullying to the ISP. Not exactly the huge step forward that I was hoping for. But, at least it is change. And with a system as flawed as the RIAA, any change is good change. One of the best comments I've read about the change is included here:

Funny. Nowhere in the article did I see the RIAA:

1) Promoting better artists to make CDs with more than one good song
2) Trimming production costs to lower music prices
3) Increasing support for music format options (OGGs, AACs, etc...)
4) Increasing music licensing options (transferal from person to person, etc...)
5) Improved CD and online music libraries
6) Enforcing music source (i.e. iTunes) and music player (i.e. Zune) interoperability

I'm just sayin'... - amanojaku(DailyTech)

For those interested in finding out more about the in's and outs of the RIAA's new stance, see the excellent post here at torrentfreak.

And one more awesome quote to finish things off:

RIAA is like the doctor in medical dramas who just won't stop trying to
revive the patient and eventualy has to be pulled off the corpse. - DarthWader(Lifehacker)


Merry Christmas everyone!

Note:Image above courtesy of Engadget

Week 29 Pics

Now that I'm done with my training in Orlando, I can keep taking pictues of pregnant Shelley!

Shelley just finished week 29, so she is moving steadily along (suprise, suprise!)

She is still feeling ok, still has heartburn though :-(

Aliens!

I want to believe.......


Visual proof of aliens



Moulder would be so proud!

Gradumacation!

Gradumacation.....Rick Style!

My Professional Obituary

My Professional Obituary

On Friday, April 18, 2078 Richard Stephen Allison passed away from exhaustion. He was a great man, and will be missed by many of his associates. Richard will be remembered as a man who was always working on learning new things and improving himself. Throughout his career he gained knowledge that he used effectively to help those around him. He was well liked by his coworkers because of his ability to listen and understand their circumstances. He helped sort out many problems, both personal and professional. He was always a hard worker, willing to put in the time necessary to accomplish his assigned tasks. He was an example to his peers, and we wish we had many more workers like him.

For my ethics final we had to write the above paragraph, what we would like to have said about our professional careers. When I originally started typing it, I put 2088 as my death date, but then I realized that would put me at 105. Even 2078 puts me at 95, and I most likely won’t live that long… even 2068 is a stretch! It made me pause for a while, it’s crazy how short life really is…anyways, if someone’s planning my funeral, now they know what to say!