Mario's 21st century

“No” to SOPA & PIPA

(Sent to Senators Gillibrand & Schumer, and Rep. Hayworth.)

I am taking this opportunity to urge you to vote against SOPA and PIPA, as well as any similar initiatives. I think we agree that protecting copyright is important, but laws like these are not the way to go about it. Punishing sites like Google, Wikipedia, WordPress, and other content hosts is a blunt instrument that will hurt businesses and individuals innocent of any copyright violations. That is quite simply unjust. Furthermore, such policy will destroy the innovation and robust exchange of ideas that the Internet makes possible.

Technology is not the problem. Individual violators are. For years I worked in public schools. Sadly, I saw copyright violations occur every single day. If Congress were to address the problem in schools with something along the lines of SOPA-style laws, the solution would be to shut down Xerox. Does that make any sense?

It makes no more sense regarding the Internet.

Hooray for customer service!

I was changing strings on my guitar last night when the tuner for the low E-string broke. I emailed Stewart-MacDonald, the luthier supply I bought the pegs from, this morning.

Here’s their reply:

Mario,

Thank you for contacting. We are sorry to hear that the mounting pin on your low E-string tuner broke, but we are happy to send you a replacement tuner today at no additional cost to you. We will ship the replacement today and you should receive an email confirmation for that shipment this evening around 7pm EST.

There is no need to return the defective tuner to us.

If you have any other questions or comments, please contact us.

Best regards,

Kristin Franks
Customer Service
Stewart-MacDonald
1-800-848-2273
www.stewmac.com

Calling all grammar wonks

I had a history professor in college who used to lament the decline of grammar and proofreading skills among editors of print media. He complained that he found mistakes in the New York Times often enough, and — and this troubled him most of all — occasionally in the New Yorker. Well, I think I just found one.

The piece is on page 29 of the December 5 issue. It appears in the Talk of the Town section: “The Tao of WiFi.” It discusses the crazy names people give their home wireless networks.

Anyway, the sentence begins as follows: “A certain genre of befuddling names are meant to send […]”

Now, I know that I have friends who are far better grammarians than I, but as far as I can tell “genre” is the subject and “are” should be “is.”

Who can back me up on this?

Lies the teacher told you

During my brief stint teaching high school, I assigned my students the task of preparing and delivering presentations. I remember telling them, repeatedly, that the skill required to make an effective presentation was something they would have to have to succeed in the business world. It’s the teacher’s pat answer to the constant question: Why do we have to do this?

“You’ll need it, someday.”

Since then, having spent a few years working in corporate America, and having sat through innumerable, seemingly interminable presentations, I think back to what I told the impressionable young minds in my classroom and have to confess that in my own direct experience I have yet to see any evidence supporting what I tried to convince them of.

Frankly, the people in charge around here seem to do quite well for themselves, in spite of themselves.

He’s just wild about “Leezza”

Moammar Gadhafi’s ruined hideaway was raided, whereupon his personal scrapbook containing picture after picture of former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was found. It seems the presumably now former “Colonel” carries a torch for this particular American girl. From a 2007 interview:

I admire and am very proud of the way she leans back and gives orders to the Arab leaders … Leezza, Leezza, Leezza. … I love her very much.

I’ve read that submissive fantasies are not unheard of among the very powerful, so I find it intriguing that Gadhafi would take particular notice of how Secretary Rice “gives orders.” I suppose an Arab leader can dream, can’t he?

Poor Condoleezza. I don’t care who she is — her phone has to be ringing off the hook with the teasing of smart ass friends. Let’s hope she’s not on Facebook.

The wedding season, forevermore

New York passed its recent law regarding gay marriage, and I think that’s great. No force on earth ought to stand in the way of two people in love. Nevertheless, I saw today a photo from a recent ceremony benefitting from the new law, and it made me think.

I wish the new couple all the happiness in the world. But, having worked at one time in catering for a period of 5 years, I cannot imagine what working a wedding reception with two brides must be like.