A little background.I can't tell you how much I hate most big businesses. Especially those with monopolies or near-monopolies. Like Microsoft, Verizon, Universal Music, Cox cable.
These companies routinely ass-rape their customers, simply because they can. If Verizon is the land-line telephone provider in your area, where you gonna go? Oh, sure, you can get a wireless phone or an internet phone (you might be forced to get Verizon high-speed access in order to get an internet phone), but you can't get another land-line phone.
Many of these companies have become so used to people being forced to give them money, that they have completely lost the ability to compete. As in, provide better service or innovation. It is completely beyond them. Their response to customer dissatisfaction is advertising and lobbying. If they can't get paid the way they used to, they go on TV and relentlessly lie about how wonderful they are. If that doesn't work, and they see customers using technology to avoid them, they go to congress and try to get laws passed to restrict competition.So, I got delicious enjoyment watching home-made video of the Malibu fires. Not from the fires, but from this: I pay $50/mo to Cox for high-speed access. They want another $40/mo for 70 channels of cable. Teh Internets are far more important to me than the local Fox affiliate. However, I decided to click on Fox news to get some information on the fire. There were two video links off to the left. I clicked on both. Both started with commercials. I stopped both before the commercials ended. And then I went to youtube. There must be a dozen home-made videos from people on site in Malibu.
Why in god's name would I pay $50/mo in order to watch fucking commercials from Fox on the internet? This is the beauty, I don't have to depend on Fox and Fox's insane need to get compensated for every goddamned pixel that comes out of their ass.
Jesus!
Of course, youtube is fooling around with advertising, but, you know what? If that advertising gets annoying enough, people will be gone off to some other choice.
(oops. Most of the links are for last year's fire. Silly me)
Every now and then when your life gets complicated and the weasels start closing in, the only cure is to load up on heinous chemicals and then drive like a bastard from Hollywood to Las Vegas ... with the music at top volume and at least a pint of ether.
-Hunter S. Thompson
Dedicated to the other side of Las Vegas, namely; the sprawling, mad,
incoherent underpinnings of the world's favorite destination.
That, and the occasional ranting about nothing in particular.
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