Hannable

"Demilich said:

"Women are a waste of money anyway. Get a hooker."

"

Just gotta love sweeping generalizations.

Dicto simpliciter (spoken simply, i.e., sweeping generalization). This is the fallacy of making a sweeping statement and expecting it to be true of every specific case -- in other words, stereotyping. Example: "Women are on average not as strong as men and less able to carry a gun. Therefore women can't pull their weight in a military unit." The problem is that the sweeping statement may be true (on average, women are indeed weaker than men), but it is not necessarily true for every member of the group in question (there are some women who are much stronger than the average).

This sudden concern about fat Americans is just another fear tactic by the media ... and I'm sure if you really do some digging, you'll find a cash cow at the bottom of the pit.  In other words, some industry somewhere is profiting handsomely from the media brainwashing that is taking place concerning fitness.

Don't get me wrong,  I'm not saying being physically fit is a bad thing,  but like with many other so-called studies and statistics, as well as with most media campaigns, it's blown all out of proportion.

For instance, when you read some statistic about how X percent of Americans are overweight, the reality is, if you're even one percentage point over the the line, you're slapped with the label.  However, the descriptions are worded to have everyone believing that anyone considered "overweight" are HUGE.  In point of fact, whenever I'm on campus, I'm pretty hard pressed to find someone who is noticeably overweight. Maybe 1 in every 100 people I see are overweight enough for me to actually notice how fat they are.  People who look physically fit are far far far more common.

More on topic, gym class was never meant to be an exercise program.  It had more to do with teaching kids about sportsmanship, fair play, teamwork, and for gaining an understanding of the rules for various sports.  As someone else pointed out,  the half an hour or so you might spend in gym class twice per week isn't going to keep anyone skinny or fit.

And dodge ball was fun!  Now a'days, I'm surprised they aren't teaching crotchet or basket weaving in gym class.  Anything to avoid our precious angels from skinning their knees.

East Rochester, NY  -->  Rochester, NY -->  Tionesta, PA  -->  Oil City, PA -->  Rochester, NY --> Indianapolis, IN  -->  Houston, TX -->  Tionesta, PA --> Warren, PA -->  Chicago, IL -->  Leighton-Buzzard, UK -->  Jacksonville, FL -->  Warren, PA --> Edinboro, PA --> Erie, PA --> Tidioute, PA --> Waterford, PA --> Tionesta, PA --> Raleigh, NC -->  Boone, NC.

I'm probably forgetting a few.

**" It shouldn't matter if the music sucks or not, if someone can't see that, they have a lot of growing up to do. "**

I think it matters a great deal if the music sucks.

Unlike any other product you buy, which can be returned with no questions asked (except sale items), music can not be refunded no matter how much you hate it.  A bad CD is like a defective product but you're stuck with it.  The music industry counts on this and essentially gives them a license to produce as much crap as they want without any real regard to quality.

** But when the dangerous who pirate significantly outnumber the amount of people who use it maturely, it becomes a big problem.**

Actually, the problem in this case rests with the manufacturer as well as the retailer.  A good example of this is the "no refund" policy most retailers have in regards to video games and music. Almost anything that can be easily copied cannot be returned to the store unless the wrapper is still intact. This was a prudent policy before broadband internet connections became standard for most households. Now the no refund policy needs to be removed since, if my intention is to copy a game, why would I put forth the fuss and bother of going to the store, buying it, cracking the copyright protection, and burning the disk when I can just download it with a click of the mouse?

I think more people would be inclined to purchase products if they could return them if they hated it. This would also force the various industries to put out better material instead of relying on the no refund policies to protect them from losses due to shoddy workmanship.

**These games also costing more money to produce**

I'm not sure about that. Video games are one of the few things that have not gone up in price. They are the same price now as they were 30 years ago. I remember buying Atari 2600 cartridges for $50 in the late 70's. I bought games for my Atari computer like Ultima IV for $50 in the 80's. I bought games for my 120 mhz computer with 16 megs of RAM for $50 in the 90's. I now buy games for my 3600 mhz dual core with 3 gigs of RAM for $50 in the 00's.  If the cost to produce video games has escalated, there's no way prices for them could remain this stable.

And lol @ the guy who says Russia AND North Korea vs. US wouldn't be much of a fight. Buddy, US would have a big problem with either of those countries.
"

In regards to the music industry, it is primarily a distribution and promotion industry ... it is not really in the business of music. It is a marketing industry.  This is bad in two distinct ways.

First, the distribution of music via stores is becoming obsolete. It is the equivalent of using the telegraph in the internet age. The music industry is realizing that the internet is the new way of music distribution and are going ape trying to figure out how to stop the inevitable progress. Most of the money you spend on a music CD, approximately 90% of it, is used to pay middle management, distribution, and marketing costs. Only about $1 per CD sale actually goes to the musician. It may not even be that much. Even downloaded music that one pays for has become ridiculously restricted to the point of making the file useless. Too much hassle with licenses and how many machines the file can be used on is causing a lot of people to end-run around the music industry and use file sharing. If I thought the actual musician was reaping most of the benefits of buying a CD, I would be more inclined to buy music. However, knowing that money from CD sales is mostly going to fat-cat execs and distribution costs, I have no moral hang-ups about downloading music. At the same time, though, I usually pay for my music, but I download from Russian music sites that only charge 10 to 15 cents per song and often have a wider selection of older music. In addition, their files aren't loaded with encryption and licensing software.

The second problem is that money spent on CDs is simply funding the music industry's incredible bias when it determines which musicians to support. The music industry generally only promotes three music genres at the same time. Two are hopelessly entrenched:   country and bubble gum music (the standard female pop singer genre). The thrid genre seems to be on a rotating schedule that changes every 10 years. During the 40's, it was the Big Band genre. In the 50's, it was doo-wop music. During the 60's, it was psychodelic music, during the 70's it was disco, during the 80's it was glam metal, during the 90's it was grunge, during the 00's it is rap/hip-hop. Mark my words, the music industry will change it again around 2010. I really don't like having the industry dictating to me what should be popular and doing their utmost to get every new generation to listen to something different from the previous generation. I don't like funding this behavior. A lot of musicians are starting to use the internet to self-promote when the music industry has decided their type of music is no longer en vogue.

People think that pirating music affects musicians and the industry, but my contention is that actually buying the music hurts musicians more than anything else ... unless you happen to be one of the relative handful of musicians the industry promotes. By handing them the cash, you give them the financial power to decide for us and for the musicians what genre of music is popular and what is "cool" to listen to.